“A sovereign country like Haiti must take care of its own security,” declared the French Ambassador to Haiti, Antoine Michon

During his visit to the southern department on Thursday, June 26, 2025, the French Ambassador reacted to the raging insecurity in the country. “It is up to the State to ensure the security of its population, not the white man,” he declared, following a journalist's question asking him to send a message to the Haitian authorities. He noted that the police and army are very weak to face this serious situation. “Not enough police officers and soldiers, and also a lack of logistical and material means,” he said. He cited the example of the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, which have roughly the same number of inhabitants as Haiti, yet these two countries have twice as many soldiers and police officers to combat crime and ensure the security of their citizens. “It is normal for the situation to be so degraded because the security forces are powerless. There is no control over the territory and the border,” he continued, to support his statements, while insisting that it is abnormal for gangs to be better equipped than law enforcement. Ambassador Michon encourages the Haitian authorities to invest more in citizen security. He calls on them to recruit more people and increase the budget of the Haitian National Police and the armed forces.
“Avoid calling on the international community to restore security. We can only help,” he insisted. Furthermore, Antoine Michon reiterated France's commitment to helping Haiti in the field of security, both in training and equipment. Recently, his country delivered a batch of equipment to the police authorities with the aim of strengthening the institution's capacity. Gédéon Delva