Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, officially resigned Thursday as a transitional government is sworn in, and a new leader, Michel Patrick Boisvert, will become the interim president.
Boisvert, working with a nine-member transitional presidential council, will try 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 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. He also has studied at the University of Port-au-Prince and the State University of Haiti.
In March, Henry said he would officially resign once a transitional government was put in place.
The presidential transition council will be installed in a ceremony Thursday morning on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
Henry’s office noted in a statement that the ceremony will be hosted at the prime minister’s official office, known as Villa d’Accueil, not the National Palace downtown, which has come under repeated fire from armed gangs in recent days.
Earlier Wednesday, powerful militia leader Jimmy “Barbeque” Chérizier 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.
Establishing 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.
