The US Treasury Department said Michel Joseph Martelly ‘abused his influence’ to facilitate drug trafficking into the United States.
Martelly, who served as president of the Caribbean nation from 2011 to 2016, also worked with Haitian drug traffickers, sponsored numerous gangs and was involved in laundering illicit drug proceeds, the department said.
‘The resolution against Martelly highlights the significant and destabilising role he and other corrupt political elites have played in perpetuating the ongoing crisis in Haiti,’ Bradley Smith, the Treasury Department’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a statement.
The resolution freezes Martelly’s assets in the United States and generally bars Americans from doing business with him. It echoes similar moves by the Canadian government, which in 2022 imposed sanctions against Martelly and two other former prime ministers, accusing them of profiting from armed gangs.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has long been plagued by gang violence, but conditions deteriorated sharply in February when armed groups forced then Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign.
Criminal groups control about 80 per cent of the capital Port-au-Prince, while residents say they face the threat of murder, rape and kidnapping for ransom.
The United Nations says gang warfare has displaced more than 578,000 Haitians, with nearly 5 million people – almost half of the population of 11.7 million – facing acute hunger and 1.6 million at risk of starvation.
