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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. imposed sanctions on Haiti’s former President Michel Joseph Martelly on Tuesday over allegations that he abused his influence to facilitate drug trafficking into the U.S. and financed criminal gangs that destabilized the Caribbean nation.
Bradley T. Smith, the Treasury Department’s acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the action “highlights the significant and destabilizing role he and other corrupt political elites have played in exacerbating Haiti’s ongoing crisis.”
Haiti has been mired in gang violence as peaceful protesters have been tear-gassed by police as they called on law enforcement to help them stop gangs that have violently seized control of their communities.
Hundreds of police officers from Kenya have arrived in Haiti to join a UN-backed anti-gang operation led by the East African country.
A July U.N. report said gang violence in Haiti has displaced more than 300,000 children since March, with many living in makeshift shelters, including schools with poor sanitation, putting them at risk of disease.
Martelly, who served as president from 2011 to 2016, was previously sanctioned by the Canadian government in November 2022 for funding gangs.
In January, a Haitian judge issued arrest warrants for Martelly and more than 30 other senior officials, accusing them of government corruption by misappropriating funds or equipment from the Haitian National Equipment Center.
Vedant Patel, a U.S. State Department official, said Tuesday’s sanctions were intended to “hold accountable all individuals who engage in gang violence and undermine the political environment in Haiti, regardless of rank or status.”
The United States uses a December 2021 executive order related to foreign nationals engaged in drug trafficking as the authority to impose sanctions.
Martelli could not be reached for comment.
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