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Then, there is focus on political stability.

Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has been managing the country since 2021. He promised to step down and the country would get a new, elected leader with free and fair elections.

Earlier this month, however, Henry said elections would take place when the security situation improves.

CARICOM leaders are, however, pressing for fresh elections. The leaders met with Prime Minister Henry on Sunday.

United Kingdom (UK) Minister for the Americas, Caribbean and Overseas Territories David Rutley, who was part of talks with CARICOM leaders on Monday, said the leaders in Georgetown agreed that “a parallel political process” is necessary as security efforts unfold.

“We (the UK) clearly want to see a pathway to free and fair elections, that’s the collective voice in CARICOM as well.

“I think the leaders in Haiti will be under no doubt about that. There is a responsibility and accountability with them now to help find the political will to drive that forward,” Mr. Rutley told the News Room in an interview at the sidelines of the CARICOM meeting.

The U.S. Ambassador also told reporters that there were meetings with PM Henry, encouraging him to engage opposition groups on a pathway to the long-awaited elections.

Finally, CARICOM leaders are also hoping to engender long-term development and prosperity in Haiti.

The country has been saddled with debt and beset by poverty for years. Haiti, before its independence, was known as Saint-Domingue, a French colony deemed as the jewel of the West Indies. Saint-Domingue was a profitable colony, producing sugar, coffee, rum and cotton.

The enslaved Africans on the island revolted in the famous ‘Haitian Revolution’ leading to the creation of Haiti, an Independent state in the Caribbean.  But Independence came at a cost for the nation of formerly enslaved Africans.

Haitians were saddled with debt – paid as reparations – to France, the country that Haiti freed itself from. Paying this debt took more than a century, taking much of the money that could have been spent to develop the island to Europe. Then, there was more debt, unhelpful interventions and natural disasters that crippled the country.

Guyana’s Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo said planting trees – or rather, replanting trees- could help the country generate wealth and protect itself from natural disasters.

“We spoke of this today at the Heads of Government meeting about how we can resurrect this concept and raise dedicated funds for replanting the entire forest of Haiti.

“This can provide jobs for people, nursery, planting, taking care, and at the same time allow the country to be less vulnerable to natural disasters like mudslides and also provide a future source of income from harvesting some of these trees,” Jagdeo said at the sidelines of the CARICOM talks on Monday.

How exactly CARICOM hopes to support Haiti now, amid mounting calls for fresh elections and ending the gang violence, will be known on Wednesday at the end of the Georgetown talks.

President Ali, on Monday, urged the region’s citizens, including Haitians, to trust the “collective leadership” and “wisdom” of CARICOM.

The teenager further noted that early the next morning, they saw the farmer picking fruits and the farmer later found Jones’ body.

He told the police that he saw when the farmer took a bed sheet, wrapped Jones’ body and dragged him more into the farm, before disappearing.

The teenager said he and his friend eventually left and that the friend threatened to kill him if he told anyone what happened.

On Sunday, the teenager accompanied the police to the location where they contacted the 59-year-old farmer.

The farmer took the police to his farm where the teenager pointed out the area. However, while there, it was discovered the fence where the victim was electrocuted was demolished and a new one was erected with barb wire.

On Monday, police acting on further information, returned to the scene where they discovered human bones, suspected to be those of Jones, in a clump of bushes.

There was also an electrical cable strapped to a coconut tree in front the suspect’s property.

Further checks made at the back of his property revealed a fire heap; the heap contained several pieces of burnt tyres and human bones, including what appear to be a skull.

Additionally, investigators recovered a burnt denim jeans and an underwear. The News Room was informed that the suspect told the police that he installed the electric fence to prevent youths from stealing his fruits.

He said he demolished the fence it in November last year after he came home and saw Jones “hook up” on the fence.

The remains were extracted for analysis. The suspect remains in custody as the probe continues.

Trade barriers have been an issue for decades; they include non-tariff barriers such as quotas, embargoes, sanctions and levies and affects some exports to CARICOM markets.

Jagdeo explained that tariffs are no longer huge impediments; phytosanitary measures, he said, impede trade now.

Essentially, these measures are quarantine and biosecurity measures implemented by countries to help safeguard against the spread of pests or diseases that may be in agricultural products.

But he believes phytosanitary measures are “capriciously” applied. So technical work is needed to promote trade while simultaneously guaranteeing health and safety.