The JDF says the initial advance team is returning home following the successful completion of its deployment to Haiti as part of the MSS. Photo: Jamaica Gleaner/File

The relief team includes 18 JDF members and three members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and will continue the work started by the CJTF-H advance team that was deployed to Haiti in September 2024.

The JDF said the initial advance team is returning home following the successful completion of its deployment to Haiti as part of the MSS.

The returning team, led by Colonel Kevron Henry, was deployed to assist in the establishment of the MSS Headquarters and lay the foundation for follow-on forces operating in one of the most volatile security environments in the region.

According to the JDF, throughout its deployment, the Jamaican contingent played a strategic and operational role in supporting the MSS mandate. It said among the team’s most significant contributions was the delivery of essential intelligence and operational planning support to the MSS Headquarters, thereby helping to shape mission strategy and to execute coordinated security operations across Haiti.

In addition, members of the contingent were tasked with providing security at the Logistic Support Area, the main base where MSS personnel are accommodated and critical facilities housed.

Colonel Henry stated, “Our team performed with professionalism, courage, and unwavering discipline in one of the most challenging operating environments in the region. The threat level in Haiti is high and constant, but our personnel were highly motivated and undaunted. They contributed meaningfully to the development and execution of the MSS mission and represented Jamaica with distinction.”

“I cannot stress how hostile the environment was”, he added. “The operational teams led by our Kenyan partners took heavy gunfire regularly and required significant logistical support. The JDF contingent, he pointed out, was vital to this function as we were involved in the training of other deployed personnel, and in the maintenance of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), a critical asset in the MSS’s operational capabilities.”

Henry also noted that the contingent included a legal officer who played an integral role in developing the legal framework to guide the MSS mission and providing compliance oversight and accountability policies for the personnel operating in Haiti.

The JDF said the rotation of personnel reflects Jamaica’s long-term commitment to the MSS mission.