By Robenson Geffrard, Le Nouvelliste, July 4, 2025
As the Transitional Presidential Council's (TPC) mandate expires in approximately seven months, presidential advisers, who are unable to fulfill their mission, are now engaging in intimidation and threats of dismissal. The heated exchange of correspondence in June between TPC members reveals the conflicting parties within the Council.
On one side, there is the alliance of presidential advisers Louis Gérald Gilles, Emmanuel Vertilaire, and Smith Augustin. Given that Laurent St-Cyr, who is to replace Fritz Alphonse Jean on August 7, has a sort of distrust of the latter, he has become a strategic ally of the alliance of the three advisers mentioned above.
On the other side, there is Fritz Alphonse Jean, the CPT coordinator, who is counting on the support of Leslie Voltaire and possibly Edgard Leblanc Fils. The two observers, Frinel Joseph and Régime Abraham, who do not have voting rights, can still provide moral support to either group. During the exchange of correspondence last June between the two conflicting blocs in the TPC, Frinel Joseph signed on the side of Fritz Alphonse Jean.
This week, Le Nouvelliste learned that tensions between the two blocs at the TPC have escalated.
A presidential advisor told the newspaper that the TPC coordinator, Fritz Alphonse Jean, is bringing up the BNC 100 million gourde scandal again in an attempt to remove or force the resignation of the three presidential advisors involved in the affair.
Our source points out that Jean is relying on a report submitted to the UN Security Council, which mentioned the three presidential advisers involved in the 100 million gourde corruption case at the BNC. "Last Tuesday, we had a meeting at the CPT on this point. The three presidential advisers concerned informed Jean that they will not resign," our source at the TPC reported.
According to our source, the TPC coordinator has drafted a resolution aimed at pushing for the resignation or dismissal of presidential advisers Louis Gérald Gilles, Emmanuel Vertilaire, and Smith Augustin. "It's a stillborn resolution. To be enforceable, it will need the support of a majority of at least five presidential advisers," our source at the TPC explained.
In response, the alliance of presidential advisors Louis Gérald Gilles, Emmanuel Vertilaire, and Smith Augustin is also threatening to pass a resolution to shorten Jean's term as TPC coordinator, which ends on August 7. In this case, these presidential advisors would have entrusted Laurent Saint-Cyr with the position of TPC coordinator well before the scheduled start of his term.
Another presidential advisor contacted by Le Nouvelliste maintains that there is no resolution in either camp. These are rumors, he said.
For the time being, and as they did before, these three presidential advisors intend to reduce Jean's room for maneuver by paralyzing the organization of the Council of Ministers.
Since becoming coordinator of the TPC, Mr. Jean has held only three Council of Ministers meetings. The most recent lasted only 25 minutes, during which the advisors adopted the draft decrees revising those of March 11, 2020, relating to the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as the draft referendum decree 2025.
"There is no President of the Republic; it is the Presidential Council that runs the country. Everyone at the TPC must accept this reality. It is the majority vote that prevails at the Presidential Council," our TPC source argues, seemingly criticizing Jean.
At the same time, presidential advisers in conflict with Jean blame him for the poor running of the country and diplomacy as if he were the only one responsible on board.
Le Nouvelliste contacted the coordinator of the Presidential Council to obtain his reaction to the situation at the CPT, but he did not respond.
It is in this context that the Eminent Personalities of CARICOM met this week via Zoom with all stakeholders who have nominated members to the Presidential Council. The Caribbean organization is urging Haitian stakeholders to agree on the future of the Transitional Presidential Council.
Already unable to fulfill its primary mission of restoring security in the country, 14 months later, this internal conflict undermining the TPC risks precipitating its fall.
Translated by CHIP editors
Posted July 9, 2025