ACS Condemns Assassination of Haitian President & Discusses Regional Recovery

ACS Secretary General Rodolfo Sabonge and representative of the Chair of the Ministerial Council (Mexico) have offered condolences to the people of Haiti and condemned the fatal attack on president Jovenel Moïse.

At the 58th Meeting of the Executive Board of the ACS Ministerial Council, Director General of Regional American Organisms Efraín Guadarrama Pérez said, “First, I would like to express my most sincere condolences to the Haitian people for the regrettable and cowardly assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.” Secretary General Sabonge also added his voice, “I also refer to the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, an act that I regret and condemn, my sincere condolences and solidarity go out to the Government and People of Haiti and particularly to the relatives of President Moïse.”

The Chair and Secretary General also expressed their solidarity with the people in Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the Dominican Republic who have suffered from the impacts of Hurricane Elsa, a Category I hurricane which affected the region over the last week.

The Executive Board Meeting is taking place in tandem with the Sixth Meeting of the Coordination Mechanism. The meetings seek to formally begin planning for the new triennial Plan of Action and the Ninth ACS Heads of State and or Government Summit, set to take place in Mexico in 2022. The Directorates and the Executive Boards of the Special Committees on Disaster Risk Reduction, Environment and the Caribbean Sea; Cooperation and Resource Mobilisation; and Trade and Sustainable Development are putting together work programmes for the period 2022-2025.

Secretary General Sabonge said that this is a key moment for strategic planning for the region’s sustainable development, especially as the Greater Caribbean seeks to plan and direct socio-economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is evident that a priority for the region is to achieve that herd immunity and from this priority a whole range of questions arises, among them, the availability of vaccines, the capacity of countries to implement vaccination campaigns, programs and logistics… All of this so that protocols can be established to open borders and once again allow passengers to be transported between countries. In a globalised world, this is key to opening borders to trade and tourism.”