Haiti has appointed businessman Laurent Saint-Cyr as the head of its transitional presidential council as the country continues to battle rampant gang violence, corruption and economic insecurity.
Saint-Cyr’s inauguration ceremony took place on Thursday at the Villa d’Accueil, a colonial-style mansion in a suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
“We must restore state authority,” Saint-Cyr said at the ceremony. “The challenges we face are certainly linked to insecurity, but they also are the result of our lack of courage, a lack of vision and our irresponsibility.”
But even the location of Saint-Cyr’s inauguration was a sign of the instability Haiti faced. The federal government has been largely displaced from downtown Port-au-Prince, where gangs control nearly 90 percent of the city.
On Thursday morning, one prominent gang leader, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, even pledged to disrupt Saint-Cyr’s inauguration.
“We have decided to march on the premier’s office and the Villa d’Accueil to end it all,” Cherizier said in a video posted online.
He called on Port-au-Prince’s residents to assist him and his fighters in their approach of the mansion: “People of Haiti, take care of yourselves and help us.”
But Cherizier was ultimately not successful. A security mission backed by the United Nations and led by Kenya issued a statement explaining that police officers had increased their patrols in the area.
“Armed gangs had plotted to disrupt national stability and render the country ungovernable,” the statement said, asserting that law enforcement had successfully deterred those efforts.
Saint-Cyr’s appointment, however, has drawn scrutiny for what it symbolises in the conflict-torn country.
Both Saint-Cyr and Haiti’s prime minister, Alix-Didier Fils-Aime, are light-skinned, mixed-race businessmen who made their fortunes in the private sector. Saint-Cyr worked in the insurance industry, while Fils-Aime led an internet company.
The majority of Haitians, however, are Black, with only 5 percent of the population identifying as mixed race. The country itself is the poorest in Latin America.
Some critics fear the leadership of figures like Saint-Cyr could herald a slide backwards for Haiti’s government, where power has long been concentrated among the rich and lighter-skinned.
The country has not held a presidential election since 2016, and turmoil in the country increased following the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moise.
Criminal networks have exploited the power vacuum to expand their own influence, while denouncing the remaining government leadership as inefficient and corrupt.
Though the presidential council was only formed in April 2024, by the end of that year, three of its members had been accused of corruption, though they denied wrongdoing.
The transitional presidential council is considered to be widely unpopular, and its nine members have been rotating into the leadership position.
Saint-Cyr is meant to be the final head of the council before it completes its task of holding a presidential election on February 7, 2026. At that point, Saint-Cyr and the council are expected to hand off power to the election’s victor.
Elections for roles in the federal government are expected to unfold in three stages, starting in November and ending with February’s presidential race. But critics warn gang violence could thwart those plans.
The United Nations estimates that 4,864 people in Haiti were killed from October 2024 to June of this year.
Threats of violence have forced essential services to shut down, including hospitals and roadways, and nearly 1.3 million people have been displaced from their homes.
The humanitarian situation in Haiti is considered among the most dire in the world, and Saint-Cyr called on the international community to respond with further resources.
“I invite all international partners to increase their support, send more soldiers, provide more training,” Saint-Cyr said at Thursday’s ceremony. “I am asking the security forces to intensify their operations.”
Ambassadors from several foreign countries were in attendance. He directed some of his remarks at them.
“Our country is going through one of the greatest crises in all its history,” Saint-Cyr said. “It’s not the time for beautiful speeches. It’s time to act.”