Haiti’s prime minister Ariel Henry officially resigned Thursday as a transitional government is sworn in and a new leader, Michael Patrick Boisvert, will become the country’s interim president.
Boisvert, working with a nine-member transitional presidential council, will attempt to quell the gang-fueled turmoil that has taken over Port-au-Prince.
Boisvert became Haiti’s minister of economy and finance in 2020, according to a government website. He was the director of tax inspection in the country from 2010 to 2018 before he became director of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. He has a master’s degree in economic policy management from the University of Auvergne in France. Boisvert also has studied at the University of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and the State University of Haiti.
In March, Henry said he would officially resign once a transitional government was put in place.
A ceremony to install the presidential transition council will take place Thursday morning on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
A statement from Henry’s office noted that the ceremony will be hosted at the prime minister’s official office, known as Villa d’Accueil, not the downtown National Palace, which has come under repeated fire from armed gangs in recent days.
Earlier on Wednesday, powerful militia leader Jimmy “Barbeque“ Cherizier insisted that talks over Haiti’s political future must include the armed groups.
The installation of the presidential transition council that will take over from Henry has been delayed for weeks amid intense behind-the-scenes jockeying for control among various political factions.
The establishment of the council is seen as a key first step toward ending the chaos that has engulfed the Caribbean nation, largely blamed on rival gangs fighting over turf, especially in the capital, as well as mostly absent state institutions.
This story is developing.