Return to Haiti of a coup leader raises concerns of more unrest

Guy Philippe, the former Haitian police commander, politician and rebel who staged a 2004 coup against his country’s then-president and served six years in a US federal prison for money laundering, was deported to Haiti on Thursday, one of his lawyers said . in Haiti, Emmanuel Jeanty.

The return of Mr Philippe, 55, has fueled concerns that he will deepen unrest in the Caribbean country, which is already in a fragile state due to political instability and a rise in murders, as heavily armed gangs attempt a civilian-invaded led vigilante group. movement.

It was not immediately clear what the authorities’ plans were to address Mr. Philippe’s potentially disruptive presence in Haiti.

Upon arrival at Port-au-Prince airport, where local media said some of his supporters had gathered, Mr. Philippe was taken by Haitian authorities to the headquarters of the judicial police, which is responsible for investigating of crimes.

Mr Jeanty said he and a colleague saw Mr Philippe briefly at the station on Thursday. He said he did not know why Mr Philippe remained there on Thursday afternoon.

“Guy Philippe is a Haitian citizen,” Mr. Jeanty said in a telephone interview. ‘And after his sentence he is back in his country. I guess after spending time in prison, everyone wants to return home. He’s waiting to go home and see his family.”

A police spokesperson did not return requests for comment.

Mr Philippe was one of the leaders of the 2004 coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He then tried unsuccessfully to run for president in 2006, but won the 2016 elections for the Haitian Senate.

A populist hero, especially in his native southwestern region, Mr. Philippe as a top police official was dogged by accusations of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings.

In 2005, Mr. Philippe was secretly indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States, which accused him of smuggling Colombian drugs from Haiti and laundering money. He evaded capture for years. In a 2016 interview with The New York Times, he claimed that the Americans could find him if they wanted to since he was living in plain sight.

In January 2017, Mr. Philippe was arrested in Haiti and extradited to the United States. After initially claiming that he had been ‘kidnapped’ because of his ‘political beliefs’, he pleaded guilty months later to a money laundering plot and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Mr. Philippe was released from prison in Georgia on September 7, according to federal records. That was true then transferred in immigration custody and was deported to Haiti on Thursday.

The White House referred requests for comment to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the State Department. ICE declined to comment. And the Departments of Homeland Security and State did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr Philippe’s arrest in 2017 sparked violent protests among his followers, and experts said he could try to rebuild his support and become a political force.

“It’s hard to speculate what this will mean,” said Jake Johnston, a Haiti expert at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, speaking about Mr. Philippe’s return. “Given his history, past connections and political ambitions, you can obviously expect this to have some impact on the country’s political situation. But we do not know to what extent he currently has a broad following or direct ambitions. We don’t even know if he will be in jail tomorrow or not.”

In a letter to the court last November arguing for a reduced sentence, Mr. Philippe wrote that he had “learned from his recklessness and come to understand the risks and consequences” and looked forward to returning to Haiti to “take part participate in the improvement” of his community of Pestel on the Tiburon Peninsula.

The 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse created a power vacuum in the already unstable country, and gangs took advantage. A vigilante movement, made up largely of ordinary Haitians in Port-au-Prince and often carrying machetes instead of guns, emerged earlier this year. Gangs have fought back, causing violence to flare up again.

Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry last year called on foreign troops to help restore order. Last month, the United Nations Security Council approved a Kenyan plan to tackle gang violence, marking the first time an African country has led such a mission in Haiti. According to the United NationsMore than 3,000 murders have been reported in Haiti this year, along with 1,500 cases of kidnappings for ransom, and 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes due to the unrest.

But both ordinary Haitians and experts on the country have doubted whether the effort — which required the deployment of a thousand Kenyan police officers and several hundred officers or soldiers from Caribbean countries, a smaller force than previous interventions in Haiti — would be enough. The Biden administration, which supported the Kenyan plan, has been reluctant to lead the mission.

André Paultre contributed reporting from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs from Mexico City.