THE CARICOM meeting is upon us – and with weighty issues to discuss. There are many matters on the table – including healthcare, crime, food and energy security, and even a video message from the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, underscoring the global picture beyond our regional concerns.

But two items loom largest on the agenda – climate change and perhaps more immediately the situation in Haiti.

As leaders from the region and beyond headed to New Providence, including Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau and US luminaries including former presidential candidate and now presidential envoy for climate change John Kerry, another development served as a reminder of the perilous state that Haiti finds itself in.

Four more people were arrested in the US over the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, including the owner of a Miami-area security company that hired ex-Colombian soldiers for the mission, according to prosecutors.

Authorities say that the goal was not just an assassination – though that is horrendous enough – but a coup. It was the contracts they were after, it is said. Get the president out of the way then make money on the deals that would flow from a new leader.

Assistant US attorney Matthew G Olsen yesterday described it as “both a human tragedy and an assault on core democratic principles”.

The language detailed in the allegations is remarkable. The security company owner is said to have been known among plotters as “The General”, while a representative of that company is referred to as “Colonel Gabriel”.

A Florida financier is accused of funding the operation, while another man is accused of smuggling bulletproof vests disguised as medical X-ray vests and school supplies.

The president was indeed murdered – and democracy itself seems all but dead too.

There is a Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, appointed just two days before the assassination but whose power base and mandate has been open to question.

The expiration of the last remaining terms for senators in the country has left Haiti without any democratically elected representation.

The situation has angered and frustrated the president’s widow, Martine Moïse, who lashed out in a 13-minute video she posted earlier this month, noting that things have worsened in Haiti since the assassination.

“It’s a huge crime that happened against the nation,” she said. “Where is the mother law of the country, where are the people, where is the democracy?”

Our own diplomats had to withdraw, airlifted out of the nation as the security situation deteriorated. To their credit, they want to go back – and the government wants to send them when it is safe to do so. When that will be is harder to say.

It is faced with this scenario that CARICOM must cut the Gordian knot that Haiti has become.

All sides talk of hoping for a “Haitian solution” or a “Haitan-led” response, but the country is in dire need of elections to actually provide a leadership with a mandate. Simply getting those elections organised in the face of massive gang influence and disruption is a challenge in itself.

To enable the leadership to spearhead the solution, there must be an election, but we need a solution in order to get new leadership in the first place.

The most notable request on the table is for a multi-national force to support the work of the police in Haiti. That request was made in October. It is notable that many nations, including our own, have spoken of being ready to help, but none has stepped forward to lead such a force.

Of course, we are at the beginning of the meeting, and not at the end, and we shall see what discussions both in the public eye and in private rooms will bring.

There is more to this meeting – and it will be interesting to see what can be delivered in other areas beyond those most in the spotlight.

But Haiti’s stability has become a pressing issue – not just for Haiti but for nations around the region.

Our neighbour needs help – we shall see what CARICOM can offer.