TCI rolls out measures to protect against Haiti security crises  

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, March 9, 2024 – Flights have been cut and border security increased as local officials attempt to protect the Turks and Caicos islands from any ripple effects coming from a major spike in unrest in Haiti this week.

“Our primary focus is to ensure the safety of our citizens, residents, and visitors to the Turks and Caicos Islands, and we are working closely with the National Security Council to achieve this goal,” Arlington Musgrove told Magnetic Media on Tuesday afternoon.

As for what peacekeeping looks like in the Turks and Caicos, it’s focused at the borders where authorities expect to be engaged with any fast boats, the preferred method of transport for migrants coming in from Haiti.

The National Security Council says several plans have been drawn up. These include:

• The activation of a Strategic Coordinating Group (SGC) to coordinate and operationalize a comprehensive strategy on land, air, and sea.
• The continuation of Operation Shepherd, a joint operation between the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force and the TCI Regiment to tackle serious and organized crime and provide reassurance to communities through stepped-up patrols and other operations.
• Suspension of flights into and out of the Haitian capital and Cap Haitien.

Missing from that lineup is any mention of increased sea presence from the United Kingdom which is responsible for the Turks and Caicos’ National Security. It’s a measure that a slew of residents have expressed that they want to see following the unrest.

Included in that number is Bishop Coleta Williams, Chaplain to the House of Assembly. He says the UK could do much more if they wanted to.

“We just had a major infraction with the prison in Haiti— if the British government, the mother country, wanted to help you deal with your national security and immigration struggle they have the power to do it. All you need is one ship between here and there,” he said during a March 3 sermon.

The statement comes amidst a series of armed clashes in the French-speaking nation.

On Saturday and Monday, March 4, gangs attacked the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince battling with the Haitian military in an attempt to bring it under their control; that attempt was foiled.

Two days earlier, on Saturday, March 2, the gangs had successfully broken into several jails in the capital freeing over 4,000 prisoners in a violent clash with police that left at least 12 people dead. Fingered as the mastermind is Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier; a former cop turned gang leader.

Chérizier has been vocal in his distaste for Ariel Henry, Prime Minister of Haiti. In September 2023, Chérizier called for an uprising to remove Henry from his post as PM.

“Our fight will be with weapons,” the gang leader had told Reuters at the time.

Henry was out of the country during the attacks, securing a deal with Kenya to lead multinational forces for peacekeeping in Haiti.