Jacqueline Charles
February 4, 2026 7:23 PM

With Haiti’s politicians unable to arrive at a consensus for governing after the expiration of the Transitional Presidential Council’s mandate this weekend, the U.S. is publicly asserting its support for Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé and signaling it will not recognize alternative power arrangements.

The Trump administration’s position, announced after months of speculation, comes just days before the council’s mandate expires on Feb. 7. Some council members continue to advance proposals for a new transition structure despite repeated warnings from Washington that their authority ends Saturday under the agreement they themselves signed in 2024.

“As the Transitional Presidential Council’s mandate ends on February 7, we support Prime Minister Fils-Aimé’s leadership in building a strong, prosperous and free Haiti,” the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince said in a social media post.

For weeks, Haiti’s political and civic leaders have been deliberating and regrouping into shifting coalitions that include both established and lesser-known figures, along with dozens of political parties. While there is broad agreement that the nine-member presidential council should step aside after failing to make headway against gangs or oversee the organization of elections, consensus has broken down over what and who should replace it.

Most political factions in Haiti agree that the next phase of the transition should be led by a dual executive, with both a prime minister and a president. But beyond that, unity has proved elusive.

At least five competing proposals have emerged from major coalitions, several of which have fractured in recent days as internal disputes deepened.

“There are a bunch of proposals, and none of them can come together to form just one,” said Antoine Rodon Bien-Aimé, a former member of the Lower Chamber of Deputies who has been engaged in the discussions as the coordinator of a coalition of 32 political parties. “Did we put our heads together to find a single solution? No. The problem is us, Haitians. Every time the international community wants to help us, we go our own way, and we can never come together.”

Among those who have been trying to mediate is the CARICOM Eminent Persons Group, consisting of former prime ministers Kenny Anthony of St. Lucia, Bruce Golding of Jamaica and Perry Christie of The Bahamas. On Monday, the group was in Washington, where along with the Caribbean Community Secretary-General’s special adviser on Haiti, Ambassador Colin Granderson, they participated in a meeting on Haiti convened by the Organization of American States.

The meeting was also attended by representatives from the United Nations, the government of Haiti, Canada and the U.S., which on Tuesday deployed a Navy warship off the coast of Haiti into the Bay of Port-au-Prince.

While officials discussed security, governance, elections and the rollout of a Gang Suppression Force later this year to help police defeat gangs, considerable attention was given to the expiring mandate of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council and the lack of consensus around a new governance framework.

The OAS referred to the situation as “a moment of profound uncertainty” in a statement.

“We recognize that a Haitian led and owned solution is crucial. The signatories call on all stakeholders to act in the interest of peace and stability and for the well-being of the Haitian people,” the OAS statement said.

Haiti has been without an elected president for nearly five years and without a functioning parliament for even longer. As armed gangs now control up to 90% of metropolitan Port-au-Prince and parts of the Artibonite region — areas that together represent roughly 60% of the electorate — Washington has emphasized the need for stability and a swift path to elections rather than a prolonged transition.

Despite this position, political maneuvering has continued, especially among members of the council who, despite agreeing to leave on Feb. 7 when they took the posts in April 2024, have been trying to find ways to remain part of the transition framework after Saturday.

On Tuesday, three members of the council, Leslie Voltaire, Edgard Leblanc Fils and Louis Gérald Gilles, announced the creation of a new three-member presidential college to lead the next phase of the transition. Their proposal calls for an entity composed of representatives of the council, civil society and a judge from the Haiti’s High Court, along with the appointment of a new prime minister.

On Wednesday, the three council members — who are under sanctions from Washington after pushing for the removal of Fils-Aimé — held an open call for candidates. The event, held at the Montana Hotel in Pétion-Ville, was the butt of jokes on social media amid questions over the group’s authority to act.

Several notable political figures, including lawyers and former government ministers, headed through a glass door at the hotel guarded by men in fatigues after being directed by a woman to submit their documents.

The presidential council members’ proposal followed another initiative announced earlier in the week by a separate faction led by a former senator, a former commerce minister, and the onetime head of coup leader Guy Philippe’s political party. The group claimed that the chief justice of Haiti’s High Court had agreed to serve as provisional president. The judge, Jean Joseph Lebrun, has not publicly confirmed any interest in the role and did not respond to requests for comment.

The divisions have stumped some of the individuals who have been trying to mediate the crisis and who can’t understand why given the problems facing Haiti, where gangs are running rampant, the country’s politicians are unable to set aside their differences.

Some critics say the lack of consensus has created an opening for foreign influence, particularly from the United States, to shape the country’s political transition.

But Bien-Aimé rejects the argument that the U.S. and others nations are responsible for Haiti’s paralysis.

“It’s not the United States who made us not respect what we signed,” he said referring to the presidential council. “It’s not the United States who has us fighting among ourselves, and it’s the United States’ fault we can’t come together.”

Bien-Aimé said he withdrew from a broader dialogue after concluding it was an attempt by council members to remain in power despite what he described as a broad consensus that the council had failed.

The council “came into power to do elections, to provide security, and instead they engaged in infighting,” he said. “They didn’t do anything, and the minute their time is up, they are refusing to leave.”