US sanctions 2 more Haitian politicians with alleged drug, gang ties

BY J.O. HASELHOEF

Overview:

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on two Haitian Senators suspected in the drug trade and financially supporting gangs in Haiti.

As part of a broad effort to stifle Haiti’s gang crisis, the United States sanctioned two more Haitian politicians — Rony Celestin and Richard Lenine Hervé Fourcand — who allegedly abused their power to advance drug trafficking.

On Dec. 2, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) froze the U.S.-based financial assets of Celestin, a current Haitian senator, and Fourcand, a former senator. According to OFAC, Celestin used his political position to move drugs from Venezuela to Haiti, then on to the U.S. and The Bahamas. Fourcand used his own airplane to transport drugs through southern Haiti and attempted to put people into government positions to facilitate trafficking activities.

People who engage in certain transactions with Celestin and Fourcands may themselves be exposed to sanctions or subject to an enforcement action, OFAC stated.

“These designations are the latest by the United States to continue supporting the people of Haiti by delivering consequences for those whose actions continue to create instability and foment violence in Haiti,” U.S. officials stated in the announcement.

“We will continue to hold corrupt officials and malign actors accountable for illicit drug trafficking that is destabilizing Haiti,” the department’s leader, Under Secretary Brian Nelson, tweeted the same day.

These sanctions are the latest in a series of actions taken by the U.S. after the United Nations Security Council voted in October to stop “bad-actors” in Haiti. The U.N. resolution has led to sanctions, including asset freezes, travel bans and restricting sales and delivery of arms to Haiti.

In November, the U.S. and Canada designated  two other Haitian politicians, Joseph Lambert and Youri Latortue, for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking. Both have lengthy histories in the trafficking of cocaine and were sanctioned using the same executive order as Celestin and Fourcand. 

Also in November, the Canadian government took the lead in sanctioning and freezing Haitian politicians’ accounts, including former president Michel Martelly and his two former prime Ministers Laurent Lamothe and Jean-Henry Céant, on suspicion of their alleged involvement with gangs in Haiti.