WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. will bolster security at its embassy in Haiti following last week's assassination of that country's president, but sending American troops to stabilize the country was 鈥渘ot on the agenda.鈥�
Haiti鈥檚 interim government last week asked the U.S. and the United Nations to deploy troops to protect key infrastructure following President Jovenel Mo茂se鈥檚 assassination. Biden signaled he was not open to the request, which comes as he is drawing down U.S. forces in Afghanistan this summer.
鈥淲e鈥檙e only sending American Marines to our embassy,鈥� Biden said. 鈥淭he idea of sending American forces to Haiti is not on the agenda,鈥� he added.
Mathias Pierre, Haiti鈥檚 elections minister, the government鈥檚 request for military assistance, saying in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press that the local police force is weak and lacks resources.
The request for U.S. intervention recalled the tumult following Haiti鈥檚 last presidential assassination, in 1915, when an angry mob dragged President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam out of the French Embassy and beat him to death. In response, President Woodrow Wilson sent Marines into Haiti, justifying an American military occupation 鈥� which lasted nearly two decades 鈥� as a way to avert anarchy.
Biden addressed the situation in Haiti during a joint press conference at the White House with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The Associated Press
