Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry is struggling to stay in power as he tries to return home, where gang attacks have shuttered his country's main international airport and freed more than 4,000 inmates in recent days
Locked out of his country for now, Henry appears to face an impasse as a growing number of officials call for his resignation or nudge him toward it.
Here's what to know about the embattled prime minister and the crisis he faces:
WHO IS ARIEL HENRY?
The 74-year-old neurosurgeon who trained and worked in southern France got involved in Haitian politics in the early 2000s, when he became leader of a movement that opposed then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
After Aristide was ousted, Henry became member of a U.S.-backed council that helped choose the transitional government.
In June 2006, he was named director-general of Haiti’s Ministry of Health and later became its chief of staff, helping to manage the government’s response to a devastating 2010 earthquake.
In 2015, he was named minister of the interior and territorial communities and became responsible for overseeing Haiti’s security and domestic policy.
Months later, he was appointed minister of social affairs and labor but faced calls for resignation after he quit the Inite party.
He then largely disappeared from the limelight, serving as a political consultant and working as a professor at Haiti’s medical university until he was installed as prime minister shortly after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, who had selected him for that position.
Moïse’s party likely thought Henry would bring credibility and some kind of constituency, said Brian Concannon, executive director of the U.S.-based nonprofit Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.
“It seems to me he must have been a pretty big figure. Presidents don’t just pick random people,” he said.
WHY ARE PEOPLE DEMANDING THAT HENRY RESIGN?
Those demanding that he step down include gangs vying for political power and Haitians angry that general elections have not been held in nearly a decade. They also note that Henry was never elected and does not represent the people.
Concannon noted that Henry has served the longest single term of any Haitian prime minister since the country's 1987 constitution was established.
“He was not appointed through any recognized Haitian procedure,” Concannon said. “He was basically installed by the courtroom.”
But elections have been repeatedly delayed as gang-related killings and kidnappings surge across the country. Last year, more than 8,400 people were reported killed, injured or kidnapped, more than double the number reported in 2022.
WHY IS THE PRIME MINISTER NOT IN HAITI?
He was originally scheduled to land in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, but the government closed its airspace and said Henry’s plane did not have the required flight plan.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Caribbean leaders spoke to Henry late Tuesday and presented him with several options, including resigning, which he rejected, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to share details of the call.
Meanwhile, the prime minister of Grenada said Henry told officials that his plan is to return to Haiti.
The U.N. Security Council planned to hold an emergency meeting later Wednesday to talk about Haiti and the troubles Henry faces.
Associated Press Writer Bert Wilkinson in Georgetown, Guyana, contributed to this report.