John Kerry, Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe Hold Talks

Above: Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and US Secretary of State John Kerry (Photo: US Department of State)

By the caribbean Journal staff

United States Secretary of State John Kerry met with Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe in Washington this week.

Kerry lamented the continued delay on holding long-planned municipal and legislative elections in the country.

“There is work to be done, and particularly, as we know, there is the challenge of completing the task of having local and legislative elections as soon as possible, being able to set the date and hold those elections to complete the task of Haiti’s transition,” Kerry said. “Unfortunately, that is being blocked now politically. I spoke with President Martelly just the other day about this, and we intend to try to work very closely to move forward. This resistance – the unwillingness to allow the people to be able to have this vote – really challenges the overall growth and development progress of the country.”

The continued political gridlock preventing elections has led to criticism from abroad; should elections not be held by Jan. 12, 2015, Haiti’s Parliament will become dysfunctional.

“You need to have a fully functioning government,” Kerry said. “The president has been working very hard, the prime minister working very, very hard, to pull people together to make this happen.”

The Secretary of State, who referred to the large number of Haitian-American constituents in his state when he was a US Senator in Massachusetts, said the administration had “very, very high hopes that we can make progress with respect to [elections], because that will facilitate our ability to continue the progress and complete the task of helping the people of Haiti to have the day-to-day lives they deserve and want, and which we want for them.”

Lamothe said the government was working “very hard to organize those elections as soon as possible.”