Above: Haiti and Ecuador’s leaders in July (Photo: OP Haiti)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti’s Ministry of Defence has selected eight cadets to travel to Ecuador for four years of study at Quito’s Eloy Alfaro Military College.

The move is the result of a series of cooperation agreements signed by Haiti and Ecuador during a visit by Haiti President Michel Martelly in July.

The cadets will eventually be part of a new police force Haiti President Michel Martelly said would focus on protecting the country during natural disasters.

As part of the agreements, Ecuadorian police will also be training 15 Haitian policemen each year.

The cadets were introduced Monday at a ceremony attended by Ecaudor’s Ambassador to Haiti, Carlos Lopez, and Haiti Defence Minister Jean Rodolphe Joazile, among others.

“The training falls within the framework of cooperation agreements signed by Ecuador and Haiti,” Martelly said Monday. “The historical ties between our two fraternal peoples are being strengthened even more, and, over time, will eventually make the spatial boundaries that separate us disappear.”

Haiti also announced that 10 civil engineers have been selected for similar training programmes in vertical construction, engineering and the construction of rural roads and bridges.

Thirty other technicians will soon receive similar training.

“The training of these two groups of professionals will last from January to September 2013,” Martelly said.

The cadets, he said, will be part of the creation of a new police force in the country.

Martelly, who early in his presidency pushed for the eventual creation of a new Haitian army, a proposal largely resisted by the international community and the UN Security Council, has been calling for a strengthened national police force to fill the security vacuum that will be left when the MINUSTAH peacekeeping force eventually leaves the country.

“These new provisions confirm my determination to stimulate the creation of a new police force, in addition to the National Police of Haiti,” Martelly said. “The recruitment of these cadets, engineers and technicians reflects the orientation to be given to the new police force.”

The cadets selected include Ernst St-Louis; Evenson Ilant; Sadrac Ladouceur; Mario Carl Erby Florestal; Jean Elie Pierre Paul; Werby B Jean, Nioventz Vixamarre and Judney B Jean.