In an unexpected development, the “Core Group” of nations created in 2004 by the United Nations to help “stabilize” Haiti and promote democracy, announced yesterday it had withdrawn support for Claude Joseph, who had been acting as interim Prime Minister since the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, with the support of the United States and the UN as well of the National Police and armed forces. The Core Group includes ambassadors from the Americas, Canada, Spain, France, the EU, the UN and the Organization of American States (OAS).
Following a July 8 meeting of the UN Security Council, American Helen La Lime, head of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and Special Representative of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Haiti, had announced that Claude Joseph would lead Haiti until elections were held. But in a statement yesterday, the Core Group, of which the UN is a member, stated it now supports Ariel Henry, whom President Jovenel Moïse had appointed prime minister on July 5, but who had not been ratified by the time of Moïse’s murder.
