A presidential decree published in the official journal Le Moniteur #182 of Friday, November 13, 2020 appoints Léon Charles as the new Director General a.i of the National Police of Haiti (PNH).

In this position, he replaces the former Director General a.i, Normil Rameau, who had held this position since August 27, 2019.

On Monday, at the General Directorate of the Police the Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe proceeded to the installation of Léon Charles. During his speech Jouthe declared "[...] Fear must finally change sides in Haiti. For this, I urge the PNH to fully play its role of protecting and serving by disabling all bandits."

Let's recall that Léon Charles until now held the post of Ambassador of Haiti to the Organization of American States. In the aftermath of the fall of former President Aristide, he was appointed head of the PNH for 16 months before being transferred as Minister-Counselor at the Haitian Embassy in Washington.

Let’s hope that he will be more effective than during his first term as head of the PNH when the transitional government criticized him for his inability to restore calm in the capital before being replaced by Mario Andrésol

Reacting to this appointment, the Office for the Protection of the Citizen (OPC) welcomes "this much desired change" which comes at a time when the climate of insecurity "characterized by cases of assassination and cases of kidnapping is becoming more and more intolerable."

In addition, the OPC underlines that "many abuses committed by members of the PNH have gone unpunished face the carelessness of the police authorities" and hopes that the new Director General, together with his collaborators, will look into as soon as possible on the adoption of a security plan capable of protecting the population and members of the police institution.

HL/ HaitiLibre