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Friday, March 29, 2024

Haiti has sworn in new Prime Minister

CSMS Magazine StaffPrime Minister designee Jacques Edouard was sworn into office on Friday after receiving ratification from the newly elected Parliament. Alexis came in with a coalition Cabinet designed to reassure the different fractions of the Haitian society. According to Reuter news agency, outgoing Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, “who was appointed to the post by a council of elders after former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was pushed from office by a bloody rebellion in 2004, left Haiti about two weeks ago and did not attend the inauguration. “ The new government, including 18 ministers appointed by Alexis and approved by Parliament this week, was installed in a ceremony at the National Palace, completing the troubled Caribbean nation’s first democratic government in more than two years.Alexis brings with him a Cabinet, which includes ministers from five leading opposition parties, to fight corruption. “I count on you to ensure sound and honest management of public funds,” Alexis told the ministers. President Rene Preval said the 18-member cabinet made up of members from six political parties was the result of a new “spirit of dialogue,” and urged Haitians to work together to overcome the “mistrust” among Haiti’s deeply divided political factions. In a speech at the National Palace, Preval said: “We are on the path to recovering our dignity and sovereignty. The dialogue has begun and the dialogue will continue, but I need everyone’s help.”             President Rene Preval is a one-time Aristide protégé who rode support from Aristide’s supporters in the slums to victory in the February 7 presidential election. His election and the installation of Alexis’s government marked Haiti’s latest steps to recover from decades of brutal dictatorship and military rule, and the political turmoil that beset the impoverished nation after Aristide was ousted in February 2004. Among Alexis’ appointments were Preval adviser Daniel Dorsainvil, a former U.S. Agency for International Development official, as finance minister, and Renald Clerisme, a former member of Haiti’s delegation to the World Trade Organisation, as foreign affairs minister.  Fafan Verela is also part of the new cabinet.Also see: https://csmsmagazine.org/news.php?pg=20060526I103

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