Attempted kidnapping of air traffic controllers in Haiti puts safety of airspace at risk

The attempted kidnapping of three air traffic controllers over the weekend near the international airport in Port-au-Prince is raising concerns about the safety of the Caribbean country’s airspace.

The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Association, in a statement posted on its website, said it is “gravely concerned” following the armed attack, which took place Saturday afternoon near Toussaint Louverture International Airport while the employees were being transported to work.

Following the incident, which left one air traffic controller with a gunshot wound to the right leg and in need of surgery, Haiti’s National Office of Civil Aviation has been using unqualified and unlicensed individuals to control the country’s skies, said Trish Gilbert, executive vice president for the Americas region of the air traffic controllers’ group. The independent professional organization, which is based in Montreal, represents more than 50,000 air traffic controllers in 133 countries.

“I get that they don’t know what to do to keep their air traffic controllers safe. But we don’t believe the answer is to just find people who have just never been air traffic controllers or were air traffic controllers 10 years ago and plug them in and have them move airplanes,” said Gilbert. “There has to be a better plan than that.”

Gilbert said she planned to meet with Dominican officials about the concerns. The country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has regular flights to Port-au-Prince. She had not yet spoken to the Federal Aviation Administration, which responded to a Miami Herald inquiry by directing the reporter to the State Department’s Level 4 travel advisory and an advisory website for pilots. U.S. carriers American Airlines, Jetblue and Spirit all have regular flights to Haiti.

Gilbert said the association has tried to reach out to Haiti’s civil aviation authority to discuss options, including perhaps moving to a skeletal crew or limiting air traffic to only humanitarian or flights deemed essential. But there has been no response.

The federation “asked the National Office of Civil Aviation (OFNAC) for their immediate and thorough attention to the significant matters involving the safety and security of air traffic control professionals and subsequently the aviation system in Haiti,” the organization said in its statement. “Unfortunately, to date IFATCA has received no response from OFNAC.”

Attempts by the Miami Herald to reach the director general of the civil aviation agency, Col. Laurent Dumas, were also unsuccessful.

A source with knowledge of the incident but not authorized to speak told the Herald on Tuesday after the story was published that there are active duty traffic controllers currently at work and armored vehicles will be available to protect them. The controllers will also be housed nearby to limit their travel time to work. Plans are being made to provide the injured air traffic controller and the others with psychological evaluations, the source said.

The safety of Haiti’s airspace is the latest in a list of issues being raised about the country, which is undergoing one of its worse humanitarian, security, economic and political crises in decades.

Since last month, a gang blockade of the country’s main fuel terminal and seaports has created shortages of fuel, food and water amid an outbreak in cholera and ongoing kidnappings As of Monday, the Varreux fuel terminal had still not been reopened, though there were unconfirmed reports that it may soon be.

The international air traffic controllers’ group said while it acknowledges the ongoing difficulties in Haiti, more must be done to protect civil aviation workers. “The health and well-being of this essential workforce is of the utmost concern to us,” the organization said.

No one is immune from Haiti’s escalating gang violence. Days before the attack against the civil aviation employees, journalist Roberson Alphonse was injured during an armed attack while heading to work. Three days later, Eric Jean-Baptiste, a former presidential candidate and well-known political leader, was killed, along with a bodyguard, as they traveled through a gang-controlled region in Laboule, the hills above the capital. Their vehicle was fired on and overturned.

Stopping Haiti’s gang violence by providing assistance to the national police is the focus of a United Nations resolution written by the United States and Mexico. The resolution would deploy a rapid action force to Haiti to help police take back control of the seaports and the access road.

But the U.S. doesn’t want to lead the force and other countries have been reluctant to volunteer. Canada has asked that a vote on the resolution be put off, two sources confirmed to the Herald. Last week Canada sent an assessment team to Port-au-Prince to evaluate its possible involvement. That determination has not yet been made, the country’s ambassador to Haiti told a Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Committee meeting Monday via a live webcast.

On Tuesday, as President Joe Biden traveled to South Florida onboard Air Force One in support of Democratic candidates in the Nov. 8 midterm election, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told McClatchy and the Herald that Biden is personally involved in the Haiti strategy. This includes the U.S. push to have a foreign force deployed to help the Haitian police under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter. Chapter 7 would put the operation under U.N. Security Council oversight and allow the use of force.

“We remain committed to supporting the people of Haiti. We are devastated as well at what we’re seeing in the country,” Jean-Pierre said. “Conversations are ongoing with partners on the U.N. Security Council to advance the draft solution authorizing under Chapter 7 — as you know... the non-U.N. mission. We recently delivered Haitian government-purchased security equipment, including tactical and armed vehicles and supplies that will assist the Haitian national police in their fight.”

McClatchy Senior White House Correspondent Michael Wilner contributed to this report.