Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé from being sacked and to block the council’s push for accountability.
Speaking at a packed press conference at the Villa d’Accueil government residence, the former central bank governor and respected economist displayed internal CPT documents, financial reports, and what he described as leaked diplomatic messages from the U.S. and Canadian embassies. Jean called the sanctions announced hours earlier by the State Department – which accuse him of “supporting gangs and obstructing the fight against terrorist organizations” – “pure retaliatory intimidation.”
“These are threats designed to silence those of us who refuse to let the transition fail,” Jean declared, flanked by several CPT allies. “The moment we began serious discussions about replacing a prime minister who has failed on every front – security, governance, elections – the sanctions and threats started raining down.”
Among the materials distributed to journalists:
- An internal CPT memo accusing Fils-Aimé of sabotaging a 7 billion gourde (~$50 million) “war budget” for anti-gang operations. Less than one-third of the funds have been released, leaving police without fuel, ammunition, or basic equipment while thousands remain displaced in makeshift camps.
- Evidence of domestic debt interest payments mysteriously ballooning from 400 million to over 5 billion gourdes in a single fiscal year, with no public explanation.
- A justice ministry accused of systematically dismissing major criminal cases – including transnational gang and arms-trafficking probes – without trial or justification.
Most damning, according to Jean: screenshots of WhatsApp exchanges and emails allegedly sent by the U.S. chargé d’affaires and the Canadian ambassador pressuring CPT members to abandon plans to remove Fils-Aimé.
Jean framed the U.S. action as blatant hypocrisy: Washington demands Haiti fight corruption and gangs, yet punishes council members for doing exactly that by targeting a prime minister the CPT says is part of the problem.
“They want stability, but only on their terms and with their chosen people in power,” Jean charged. “We will not be intimidated into accepting failure.”
The sanctions make Jean and his immediate family ineligible for U.S. visas and freeze any assets they might hold in the United States – measures the State Department has used repeatedly since 2022 against Haitian politicians and businessmen accused of enabling armed groups.
The public clash lays bare the deepening rift inside Haiti’s transitional government, just ten weeks before the constitutional deadline of February 7, 2026, when the CPT is supposed to hand power to an elected president.
With gangs still controlling most of the capital and key highways, elections remain a distant prospect. Tuesday’s dramatic showdown signals that the battle for Haiti’s political future is now being fought as fiercely inside conference rooms and WhatsApp chats as it is on the streets.
Neither Prime Minister Fils-Aimé nor the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince has responded to the latest allegations at the time of publication.
This is a developing story. More reactions and document verification expected in the coming hours.
