Canada to deploy navy vessels to Haiti as violence worsens

By DÁNICA COTO and ROB GILLIES
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Canada says it will send navy vessels to Haiti for intelligence-gathering as part of efforts to quell worsening gang violence in the Caribbean nation. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement Thursday in the Bahamas at an annual meeting of Caribbean leaders. A key topic at the meeting has been Haiti’s surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings blamed on gangs emboldened since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Also at the meeting is Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry who has pleaded for a full-fledged international military intervention to stem the mayhem. Haiti requested help from the U.N. Security Council in October and has suggested the U.S. and Canada lead a force. No such intervention has come together.