Haiti

Nov. 24 (UPI) — The United States on Monday announced it was imposing visa restrictions on Haitian government officials the Trump administration accuses of supporting gangs and other criminal organizations in the Caribbean nation.

Individuals affected were not identified in the State Department press release, which said the move comes under a Biden-era policy targeting those who provide financial or material support to gangs and criminal organizations operating in Haiti.

“The United States remains committed to supporting Haiti’s stability and expects measurable progress toward free and fair elections,” the State Department spokesperson said.

“The Haitian people have had enough with gang violence, destruction and political infighting. The Trump administration will promote accountability for those who continue to destabilize Haiti and our region.”

Haiti has suffered from a political crisis and a surge in gang violence since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021.

Criminal violence has since exploded, with gangs controlling much of Port-au-Prince. In a Nov. 12 press release, United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti said at least 1,247 people were killed and 710 injured between July 1 and Sept. 30 in the capital area. There were also 145 kidnappings and 400 victims of sexual violence, it said.

More than 1.4 million have been displaced across the country.

Between April 1 and June 30, there were at least 1,520 people killed and 609 injured, 185 kidnappings and 628 victims of sexual violence, the BINUM said in a previous update.

The Biden administration announced the visa restriction policy, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, in October 2022.

The move comes as the Trump administration is conducting an immigration crackdown.

The Trump administration has sought to end temporary protection status for Haiti, which shields some Haitian nationals in the United States from deportation. However, the move is being challenged in the courts.

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Oanaminthe, Haiti – It’s a Monday afternoon at the Foi et Joie school in rural northeast Haiti, and the grounds are a swirl of khaki and blue uniforms, as hundreds of children run around after lunch.

In front of the headmaster’s office, a tall man in a baseball cap stands in the shade of a mango tree.

Antoine Nelson, 43, is the father of five children in the school. He’s also one of the small-scale farmers growing the beans, plantains, okra, papaya and other produce served for lunch here, and he has arrived to help deliver food.

“I sell what the school serves,” Nelson explained. “It’s an advantage for me as a parent.”

Nelson is among the more than 32,000 farmers across Haiti whose produce goes to the World Food Programme, a United Nations agency, for distribution to local schools.

Together, the farmers feed an estimated 600,000 students each day.

Their work is part of a shift in how the World Food Programme operates in Haiti, the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere.

Rather than solely importing food to crisis-ravaged regions, the UN organisation has also worked to increase its collaborations with local farmers around the world.

But in Haiti, this change has been particularly swift. Over the last decade, the World Food Programme went from sourcing no school meals from within Haiti to procuring approximately 72 percent locally. It aims to reach 100 percent by 2030.

The organisation’s local procurement of emergency food aid also increased significantly during the same period.

This year, however, has brought new hurdles. In the first months of President Donald Trump’s second term, the United States has slashed funding for the World Food Programme.

The agency announced in October it faces a financial shortfall of $44m in Haiti alone over the next six months.

And the need for assistance continues to grow. Gang violence has shuttered public services, choked off roadways, and displaced more than a million people.

A record 5.7 million Haitians are facing “acute levels of hunger” as of October — more than the World Food Programme is able to reach.

“Needs continue to outpace resources,” Wanja Kaaria, the programme’s director in Haiti, said in a recent statement. “We simply don’t have the resources to meet all the growing needs.”

But for Nelson, outreach efforts like the school lunch programme have been a lifeline.

Before his involvement, he remembers days when he could not afford to feed his children breakfast or give them lunch money for school.

“They wouldn’t take in what the teacher was saying because they were hungry,” he said. “But now, when the school gives food, they retain whatever the teacher says. It helps the children advance in school.”

Now, experts warn some food assistance programmes could disappear if funding continues to dwindle — potentially turning back the clock on efforts to empower Haitian farmers.