Haiti Report, February 2, 2025
A compilation of news about Haiti from the past week.
Haiti leader says elections can be held this year even as gangs continue their rampage
The head of Haiti’s embattled presidential council says he believes that both a reform of the country’s constitution and general elections to put a legitimate government back in charge can take place before the end of the year. Haiti last held elections in 2016, and hasn’t had an elected president since the July 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moïse. Leslie Voltaire, the head of the Transitional Presidential Council, is envisioning a vote to restore democracy to Haiti with elections for a president, parliament and local mayors on Nov. 15. Voltaire made the declaration during interviews Wednesday with TV Monde 5 and France 24/Radio France Internationale while on a European tour, during which he met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and Pope Francis at the Vatican. Voltaire said he hopes to have a constitutional referendum voted on by April, and envisions the first round of general elections around Nov. 15. Runoffs, he said, would take place around mid-January of 2026 “so that finally on February 7 there could be a legitimate government.” Under that election plan, the nine-member Provisional Electoral Council, responsible for organizing elections in Haiti, would prioritize voting in the regional departments currently not under the control of armed criminal groups.
“I think that we will have elections in eight departments that are free of gangs; we will have the elections in the Artibonite, which is a quarter controlled by the gangs; we will have elections in half of Port-au-Prince,” Voltaire said. He acknowledged the plan, amid Haiti’s turbulent gang violence and worsening humanitarian crisis, may be overly ambitious. “It is very quick,” he told France 24 when journalists questioned the timetable. When the journalists raised the issue of continuing gang violence, Voltaire said “the security situation is mainly in the metropolitan area.” A source on the electoral board told the Miami Herald that on Dec. 30 they forwarded a calendar proposing May 11 for the constitutional referendum and a budget. While they envision holding elections in November, they have yet to propose a specific date. Asked about whether any vote can take place in the current security environment, the electoral adviser said: “Technically we will do all we need to do, but the security is in the hands of the government.”
Voltaire’s assessment of Haiti’s ability to pull off a vote this year is in contrast to the view of the United Nations, which last week cast doubt on the nine-member presidential council being able to stage elections in time to restore democracy by February 2026. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council that political setbacks, fueled by corruption allegations involving three of Voltaire’s colleagues on the council, had opened the door to escalating gang violence and was endangering the election timeline. “Simply put, the goal of restoring democratic institutions by February 2026 is in jeopardy,” Guterres said in a report. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article299406989.html#storylink=cpy
President of Transitional Council accuses ex-president of legalizing gangs
During his European diplomatic tour, Leslie Voltaire, acting president of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council (CPT), made several bold statements in a televised interview with TV5 Monde after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron. From France’s acknowledgment of its historical injustices against Haiti to the country’s volatile security situation and promises of international intervention, Voltaire outlined Haiti’s most pressing needs while addressing upcoming elections, gang control, and reparations for the country’s independence debt.
During his interview on TV5 Monde Television Network, Voltaire said that French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged Haiti’s independence debt—often referred to as a “ransom”—as a historical injustice. Voltaire stated that Macron discussed reparations and the financial burden imposed on Haiti. Voltaire stated that President Macron intends to make a landmark statement on April 17, marking 200 years since the enforcement of the Code Noir. This bicentennial will serve as a symbolic moment to recognize the oppressive laws that shaped Haiti’s colonial past.
In one of the most explosive moments of his interview, when asked about the growing power of gangs, which now control 85% of the capital, Voltaire accused former Haitian President Michel Martelly of enabling gang proliferation. “Martelly legalized criminals and used their support to govern,” he claimed, referencing the former leader’s controversial slogan, “legal bandit.” “Martelly, the artist, used this strategy to establish his power and create a militia that controls the country.” Voltaire argued that Martelly’s administration armed and trained gangs, leading to their current dominance. He attributed the collapse of the Haitian state post-2010 earthquake as a key factor that allowed gangs to become independent entities. “These groups now control drug trafficking, weapons, and even human organ trafficking,” Voltaire stated. International reports from the United States and the UN have corroborated allegations linking Martelly to gang activities, adding weight to Voltaire’s claims. His statements have sparked heated debates in Haiti, highlighting the country’s deep-seated governance and security issues.
https://haitiantimes.com/2025/01/31/leslie-voltaire-european-tour-and-appearance-on-tv5/
Viv Ansanm armed groups attack Kenscoff
A winding, unpaved mountain road leading to the southeast of the country remains the only land route out of Port-au-Prince in relative safety. The northern and southern axes are entirely under the control of armed gangs. This tranquility, only disturbed by the increasing number of horses, motorcycles and 4x4s, could soon disappear. This week, bandits from the “Krisla” gang operating in “Ti Bwa” tried to take control of the Kenscoff road, a municipal official revealed to AyiboPost. Kenscoff town hall provisionally estimates the toll at around fifty deaths and the burning of around sixty houses.
These criminals – who occupy the commune of Carrefour – have continued their attacks against the communal sections of Bongars and Sourçailles in Kenscoff for three days, with two objectives. "First, take control of the Kenscoff police station, then seize the road leading to the South-East, mainly Jacmel," Emmanuel Pierre, administrator of the Kenscoff town hall, explained to AyiboPost. The bandits are slow to reveal their plan. But the administrator does not rule out the idea of the possible installation of toll booths on the road, as is the case for the north and south of Port-au-Prince. On the night of January 26, the bandits from Carrefour passed through the Rivière Froide to arrive at Berlie, Barouette, up to the “Kafou Bèt” area in Kenscoff. These areas provide access to the bottom of Séguin, where part of the road section connecting the West department to the South peninsula is located. The bandits clashed with police officers in the town of Godet. Clashes took place until January 29, in the areas of "Ka Fonvyen" and "Nan Peno", leading to Séguin.
Eight days before the attack, a voice note circulated on social media, claiming that Dimitri Hérard, former head of security at the National Palace, imprisoned in connection with the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, was leading a troop to attack Kenscoff. The rumor prompted municipal authorities to issue a statement announcing the suspension of all cultural activity in the area and the establishment of a curfew. It was 5 o'clock in the afternoon on Monday, January 27, when Christophe Sauveur learned that bandits had just murdered eleven members of his family in Kenscoff. The bloody day also cost the life of his 70-year-old father, who was mercilessly shot. "The bandits tied up my father and then shot him in the head," explains Sauveur, an introductory economics teacher at the Kenscoff national high school. The other members of the family, trapped in the village of "Ti Plas" in the locality of Bongars, either died from a bullet to the head or were disemboweled during the attack. Panicked, the population tried to escape by hiding in the forest, while the criminals pursued them to shoot them. Since the attacks, displaced people have taken refuge in two main sites: one within the town hall of Kenscoff, where around 300 people, including nursing mothers and young children, are housed; and the other at the National School of Furcy. Other displaced people are being received by host families.
The Prime Minister disclosed that the CSPN's intelligence services had prior knowledge of the gang attack on Kenscoff. “The intelligence services of the PNH, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, and the Ministry of the Interior and Local Authorities had been warned about the attacks on Kenscoff,” said Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, before questioning: “How did this happen? Why, despite the warnings, was nothing done to prevent the attacks?” These questions, according to the Prime Minister, are crucial to ensuring such events do not occur again in the future. As the Prime Minister made these revelations, standing behind him were Minister of Justice and Public Security Patrick Pelissier, Minister of the Interior and Local Authorities Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé, Secretary of State for Public Security Mario Andrésol, and top officials of the PNH, including the institution's Director General, Rameau Normil.
These statements by the Prime Minister further fuel the debate on the gap between official discourse and actual actions to restore security. His remarks come just days after gang attacks on the commune of Kenscoff. Between Sunday evening, January 26, and Monday, January 27, 2025, armed gangs launched an assault on Kenscoff, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries. During this visit to the DGPNH, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, accompanied by Ministers Pelissier and Bien-Aimé and Secretary of State for Public Security Andrésol, held a one-hour meeting with the PNH's senior leadership. The delegation also visited the PNH's logistics base. In addition to his revelations, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé “reaffirmed the government’s commitment to supporting the PNH’s efforts” and “assured the population that security remains the government's top priority”.
Several gang members were killed on Friday, January 31, during an operation by the Haitian National Police (PNH) in Kenscoff. Deputy police spokesperson Lionel Lazarre confirmed the news in an interview with Le Nouvelliste on Friday evening. "Two rifles and a bag of ammunition were seized during a police operation in the Bongard and Laratte areas. Several gang members were killed," stated Lionel Lazarre. Since the beginning of the week, armed gangs have been attempting to take control of the commune of Kenscoff. Fatalities and material damages have been reported in the area, according to the town’s mayor, Massillon Jean. Since then, the police have been working to regain control of the situation. Lionel Lazarre told Le Nouvelliste that the PNH has maintained its security presence in the area. According to him, specialized units remain on-site, and an inspector general has been appointed by Director General Rameau Normil to lead the operations. The newspaper has also learned that a contingent of soldiers from the Armed Forces of Haiti (FADH) has been deployed in the area. https://lenouvelliste.com/en/article/252911/security-forces-neutralize-criminals-and-seize-weapons-in-kenscoff
Trump freezes all foreign aid for 90 days
Military assistance to Egypt and Israel, and emergency food aid are — for now— the only exceptions the Trump administration is making to an executive order temporarily halting U.S. foreign aid for 90 days, pending a review. The waivers were listed in an internal State Department memo obtained by the Miami Herald that was distributed to offer guidance about the review process being launched by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The goal of the exercise is to see if the programs being funded are aligned with President Donald Trump’s foreign policy agenda following his signing of the order on Monday. The memo, sent to State Department employees on Friday and obtained by the Miami Herald, virtually halts all aid and says that “effective immediately, no new obligations shall be made for foreign assistance” until the secretary makes a determination after a review. The memo also states that “stop orders” are to be immediately issued for existing awards. U.S. Agency for International Development, agreement officers and implementing partners were subsequently informed of the decision via email. Bottom line: All new aid is halted, and payments for approved aid are stopped until further review.
In Haiti, where the government’s measly $2.5 billion budget for about 12 million people doesn’t stretch very far — especially when gangs are carrying out mass massacres, HIV and tuberculosis are seeing a resurgence, and women are still dying in childbirth — the stoppage, providers say, risks making an already tragic situation even worse. “I do not have the specific numbers by sector, but I imagine this can have a negative impact on security and health that greatly benefit these sectors,” said Port-au-Prince-based economist Kesner Pharel. He had hoped, he said, that Haiti would make the short list with Israel and Egypt.
Several providers contacted by the Herald said they are still trying to figure out the impact to their programs. But already some were seeing the effects: A hospital administrator trying to request an online fund transfer for HIV/AIDS funding approved until March was unable to do it. The editor-in-chief of the country’s oldest newspaper, Le Nouvelliste, announced over the radio during his editorial segment on Magik9 on Thursday that its USAID-financed advertising had ceased. The U.S. doesn’t provide direct funding to Haiti, even though it is the Caribbean nation’s largest donor. It provides its tens of millions of dollars annually for reproductive health, HIV/AIDS medication, and development programs though nonprofits and implementing partners that receive U.S. government funds. Funding is also administered by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) for police and security. While USAID funds are distributed to programs supporting water and sanitation, seeds for farmers and food aid, INL trains and equips the Haiti National Police, providing them everything from night googles and guns to a new specialized SWAT. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article299141705.html
As part of Trump aid freeze, police contractors laid off
Experts on policing who were contracted by the U.S. government to help a crisis-wracked Haiti take down heavily armed violent gangs are among the first casualties of a sweeping Trump administration 90-day freeze on almost all foreign aid around the world. Several “subject matter experts” contracted under the Biden administration to help the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission and the Haiti National Police were notified by email Monday that they’ve been furloughed until further notice, several sources confirmed to the Miami Herald. The furloughs are part of a sweeping series of layoffs that have started to hit both the United States Agency for International Development and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, a State Department agency that helps professionalize and strengthen police operations around the world and assists efforts to combat narcotics trafficking. I saw this Miami Herald article on the Miami Herald app and thought you'd be interested. As part of Trump aid freeze, police contractors are laid off in Haiti amid gang attacks.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article299281064.html
President of Transitional Council says gangs have “taken a step back”
Leslie Voltaire, president of Haiti's Transitional Council, says the armed gangs who have terrorized Haitians for months have "taken a step back" in certain neighborhoods including Delmas 2 and in the Artibonite region. Voltaire credited the national police force and the Kenyan-led multinational force for the progress made in confronting gang violence. https://www.voanouvel.com/a/7957063.html
French President calls for UN to consider peacekeeping operation
Emmanuel Macron called on Wednesday for the United Nations to consider a "peacekeeping operation" in Haiti, in response to the gang violence destabilizing the country, which claimed more than 5,000 lives last year, according to the Élysée Palace. The French president met on Wednesday in Paris with Leslie Voltaire, the president of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council. "The Head of State made it clear that the Haitian people can count on France’s solidarity, which remains present in Port-au-Prince," the Élysée stated following the meeting. The French presidency added that "France will continue to mobilize its partners, particularly within the European Union, to provide Haitian authorities with the necessary means to combat criminal gangs and to sanction all those contributing to the country’s destabilization." "France supports the Haitian police on a bilateral basis and within the framework of the Multinational Security Support Mission, as restoring security is an absolute priority," the Élysée stated. However, "a stronger UN presence, including in the form of a peacekeeping operation, must now be considered," the Élysée added.
UNICEF warns of crisis facing Haiti’s youth
In a briefing on Friday, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric reported that more than 1,600 men, women and children have fled. Two-thirds are seeking refuge with host families and over 500 sheltering in three newly established displacement sites, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The situation for children remains particularly dire. The number of internally displaced children in Haiti has increased by nearly 50 per cent since September, now exceeding half a million. UNICEF reports that approximately one in eight children in the country is now displaced. The agency also warns of a 70 per cent rise in child recruitment by gangs over the past year, with up to half of gang members in Haiti now estimated to be children.
Speaking from a prison in Port-au-Prince where dozens of children are being held, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder described the growing desperation: “I’m in a prison in Port-au-Prince where dozens of children are being held,” he said, explaining that 85 per cent of this capital city is controlled by armed groups. “So, child recruitment into armed groups is rampant. Children get recruited. It’s out of desperation. It’s out of manipulation, out of being engulfed in violence,” he emphasised. Mentioning a 16-year-old girl who dreamt of being a paediatrician, but was caught up in a raid, he said: “The point of this is that childhood should not be a gift. Childhood is a right.” https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/01/1159671
Haiti’s Vetiver industry going through unprecedented crisis
Jean Pierre Blanchard, businessman and owner of Caribbean Flavors & Fragrances SA, a vetiver processing plant in the Ouest department, was recently forced to shut down his business due to ongoing sociopolitical turmoil. "Until recently, we managed to hold on, but the difficulties have become insurmountable," said Blanchard in an interview on Magik 9 on Thursday, January 30, 2025. Caribbean Flavors & Fragrances SA, located in Port-au-Prince, relies on the southern route to transport vetiver from Les Cayes, a major production zone. However, since last August, the road through Gressier has been blocked, making truck transport impossible. Given this situation, "closing the factory was inevitable," he lamented.
Jean Pierre Blanchard attempted to keep his business running through a partnership with a supplier in the South. However, fuel shortages in the region prevented the production units from operating efficiently. "We experienced the 2010 earthquake and, before that, the embargo period, but in 35 years, the factory has never faced such difficulties. This is the first time our hands are completely tied," he admitted. Joël Blanchard, co-owner of the factory, painted an alarming picture of the situation. "In 2024, the vetiver industry had already suffered a 50% decline in production due to political and economic instability. This year, the situation could be even worse."
https://lenouvelliste.com/en/article/252867/vetiver-industry-struggles-amid-growing-difficulties
Nou Pap Dòmi launches debate competition for schoolchildren
The civil society organization Nou Pap Dòmi launched a debate competition on corruption and impunity on Thursday, January 30, 2025, at the Montana Hotel. Intended for students from schools in the West and Center departments, this competition aims to promote civic participation among young people, while raising awareness on issues related to corruption and impunity. This competition marks the second stage of the Sitwayen Pa Dòmi project, which aims to promote the civic participation of young people through civic education and civic engagement, said James Beltis, project manager of Nou Pap Dòmi. This project, which is part of the fight against corruption and impunity, was launched on June 1, 2024. It aims to train young schoolchildren in seven municipalities in the country, spread over two departments: the West and the Center. The municipalities concerned are: Hinche, Mirebalais, Lascahobas, Pétion-ville, Delmas, Port-au-Prince and Carrefour.
In this sense, the national debate on corruption and impunity is open exclusively to schools involved in the Sitwayen Pa Dòmi project , Vélina Charlier said. "For its first edition, this competition is open to schools participating in the project [Sitwayen Pa Dòmi, editor's note]," she said. "We are targeting teams of adolescents aged 15 to 18," added Ms. Charlier. According to her, the choice to reduce the number of schools that can participate in these debates aims to structure the competition, before initiating it in other departments of the country. In order to help schoolchildren to be better able to approach the topics that will be debated, in addition to training on the themes of corruption and impunity, several training sessions in debate techniques are also planned as part of the project. Various bonuses will also be distributed to the winners of these oratorical jousts. https://lenouvelliste.com/article/252879/nou-pap-domi-lance-un-concours-de-debat-pour-les-ecoliers
Trump plans to send as many as 30,000 detained migrants to Guantanamo
President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum Wednesday to ready a detention facility for migrants in the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that could hold as many as 30,000 people as his administration ramps up deportations. The memo directs the secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to take “all appropriate actions” to expand the Migrant Operations Center in Guantanamo Bay “to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs” identified by the agencies. Brian Concannon, executive director of Boston-based Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, has long been a critic of detaining migrants in Guantanamo. “When Guantanamo Bay held thousands of Haitians in the 1990s, it functioned as a concentration camp with deplorable conditions, beyond the rule of law,” he said “Reviving this practice, especially to hold people of color, would constitute an outrageous betrayal of our humanity and the rule of law.”
Urgent call to action on alarming rate of sexual violence
The widespread and devastating violence, and especially sexual violence faced by Haitian women and girls - both within Haiti, but also externally, among migrant, and refugee communities - demands immediate and coordinated action from national governments and the international community. In response to this critical situation, the members of the Platform of Independent Expert Mechanisms on Discrimination and Violence against Women (EDVAW Platform) who endorse this statement, in their capacity as Independent Experts from regional mechanisms and the United Nations which focus on eliminating discrimination and violence against women, express profound concern and calls for decisive measures to address the extreme violence experienced by Haitian women and girls.
The members of the EDVAW Platform recognize that the widespread sexual violence in Haiti is rooted in systemic challenges, including political instability, poverty, weak governance, pervasive gender inequality, and exclusion of women from public decision making processes. Addressing these structural issues is essential to achieving sustainable solutions to the crisis. According to information reported by international organizations, between January and October 2024, nearly 4,000 cases of sexual violence against women and girls were reported in Haiti. Local health services reported to the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti an average of 40 rape victims per day. The Experts of the Platform express their concern regarding reports indicating that Haitian women and girls have become direct victims of the armed violence affecting the country, as well as victims of sexual violence used as a means of threat, control, and retaliation by criminal groups. The constant threat of sexual violence also limits the access of women and girls to transportation, to schooling and to health care. Practically all of this violence goes unpunished given the disruption of policing and the administration of justice. https://belemdopara.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Statement-EDVAW-Platform-Haiti.pdf
Aid access growing harder
Aid groups trying to tackle soaring humanitarian needs in Haiti are increasingly seen as protecting the gangs, leading them to become targeted by the police and self-defence groups, according to the head of mission in the country for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “In our case, there is certainly this perception, but that's the result of the fact that we adhere to the principle of impartiality,” Diana Manilla Arroyo told The New Humanitarian during a wide-ranging interview. “We will always give medical care to anyone who needs it, and we do not ask who they are or what they do. This has created frustration amongst not only the armed forces, but also amongst a part of the civilian population.” https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/interview/2025/01/28/aid-crosshairs-why-access-growing-harder-haiti
Dominican Republic ramping up deportation of Haitian migrants
As spiraling violence in Haiti puts healthcare out of reach for most, Haitian mothers are seeking care at hospitals in neighboring Dominican Republic despite government policies there scaling up deportations. The two countries share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, but are divided by a heavily secured border, long-standing tensions and an immense wealth gap. Children born to Haitian parents in the Dominican Republic do not receive citizenship. https://www.voanews.com/a/dominican-republic-ramping-up-deportation-of-haitian-migrants-/7952850.html
Dr. Bertrhude Albert becomes new ambassador for Cap-Haitien
In an official ceremony filled with emotion and pride, the Cap-Haïtien city hall invested Dr. Bertrhude Albert as the city's ambassador. Deputy Mayor Patrick Almonor took the opportunity to recall that Cap-Haïtien is not just a tourist destination, but has become a refuge for the many citizens fleeing the rampant insecurity of Port-au-Prince. Speaking on the occasion, Mayor Yvrose Pierre praised Dr. Albert's exemplary career and encouraged her to put her skills and energy to the service of the development and well-being of the city. "Cap-Haïtien needs its sons and daughters to grow and prosper. We are counting on you, Dr. Albert, to carry the voice of our city high," she said. https://lenouvelliste.com/article/252772/dr-bertrhude-albert-une-ambassadrice-au-service-du-renouveau-du-cap-haitien
ANALYSIS/OPINION
Violence, Abuses and Hunger in Haiti: A call to the international community
By Bill O’Neill, UN Independent Human Rights Expert for Haiti
ReVista, Harvard Review of Latin America
I have worked in Haiti under a military dictatorship, in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake and in other crisis periods. Yet I have never seen greater violence or suffering than Haitians are currently experiencing. The human rights violations and abuses are appalling. I’ve visited Haiti three times in the past 18 months as the United Nations Designated Expert on Human Rights in Haiti. With each visit, I witnessed a deterioration in the respect of the most basic human rights such as the right to life, physical integrity, right to food, education health care, clean water and to adequate housing. My UN Human Rights colleagues (OHCHR) based in Haiti have stopped counting the number of rapes and cases of sexual violence because any statistic would be misleadingly low.
Yet the level and intensity of violence has accelerated since my last visit in September 2024. Every morning, I wake up to a barrage of messages, videos on WhatsApp and e-mails that convey a terrifying picture of daily life in Haiti:
More than 5,000 people have been killed thus far in 2024 by gang-related violence, some involving self-defense groups, unorganized members of the population, as well as the involvement of some police officers.
Thousands of people fleeing their homes from gang attacks
Gangs have ransacked and destroyed dozens of hospitals and the few still open are overrun with gunshot victims, while Doctors without Borders has suspended many of their services in the capital after an attack on one of their ambulances and staff, allegedly by Haitian National Police and self-defense groups or armed members of the population
Neighborhood vigilantes have killed dozens of suspected gang members in the last few weeks, filling social media with pictures of burned bodies in the streets, many of them teenagers.
Gang leaders vowing revenge on whole neighborhoods because of these killings creating the risk of a spread of violence throughout the population.
Port-au-Prince, a city of four million people, is held hostage, a vast open-air prison as gangs control all the main roads in and out of the capital and the bay to the west of the city.
After hitting three U.S.-based planes in early November, the gangs once again succeeded in closing the international airport in Port-au-Prince and these airlines have suspended all flights to Haiti until at least March 12, 2025.
The gangs have a stranglehold on the delivery of humanitarian assistance essential to keeping many Haitians alive; food and medical supplies are in short supply and have become extremely expensive due to the violence.
A fuel shortage has rendered dysfunctional the few institutions still trying to function including health clinics, government offices, banks, markets and small businesses.
Garbage is piled in any open space and fills drainage canals that flood every time it rains, thus presenting a high risk of infectious diseases spreading even more rapidly through a malnourished and terrified population with little access to health care.
Many schools in the capital Port-au-Prince are closed; at least 50, 000 people, in addition to the 700,000 already forcibly displaced, are desperately searching for safety, food and water after a recent surge of attacks by gangs.
Haitians’ suffering must end, and they are asking for help which is not easy for a proud people that led the way in the fight to end slavery and recognize racial equality, the first country in world history to do so in 1804. We simply cannot let them down. But so far, we have. In October 2023 the United Nations Security Council passed a Resolution authorizing the creation of a Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission of at least 2,500 international police officers to support the Haitian National Police (HNP) to re-establish security. The Resolution also called for an arms embargo and for sanctions on anyone supporting the gangs financially or otherwise.
While controversial, given the past experience of international interventions in Haiti, by October 2023 the vast majority of Haitians were so desperate they welcomed the possibility of having international police come to help the HNP neutralize the gangs. I heard frequently from Haitians from all walks of life a similar message: “We want our lives back. We want to be able to breathe again. We want to be able to go to the market, to the doctors, to church, to send our children to school without worrying that they would not come back alive.” One added: “We want to be just poor again.”
Read more: https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/violence-abuses-and-hunger-in-haiti/
US should end a long history of interfering and allow Haiti to prosper
By Marleine Bastien and Brian Concannon in the Miami Herald
Haitians in South Florida — and their families, friends, employers and supporters — are grappling with this week’s immigration raids, the new administration’s plan to deport as many as a million people, mostly immigrants of color, currently living legally in Florida and other states. Now, the U.S. is preparing Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba to detain them all. But back in Haiti, people are more worried about the policies implemented by another administration — that of the third U.S. president and slave owner Thomas Jefferson —that still afflict Haiti today. Ending Haiti’s misery and decreasing immigration pressure at our borders require us to reverse these policies.
At the time of President Jefferson’s 1801 inauguration, Haitians had led a revolution and were on the way to becoming the Americas’ second independent country after defeating Napoleon Bonaparte’s French army. Instead of welcoming Haiti as continuing the U.S.’s fight for freedom against European empires, Jefferson opposed it, seeing Haitian freedom as a threat. The Haitians were Black and Jefferson feared that a prosperous Haiti would inspire Black people elsewhere — we suspect, including on Jefferson’s own plantation — to seek their own freedom and challenge the racist system on which U.S. prosperity was based at the time. So, Jefferson sent ships and guns to help the French and refused to recognize Haiti’s independence when it was declared in 1804.
President Abraham Lincoln eventually recognized Haiti in 1862, just before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. But for more than two centuries, U.S. administrations, Republicans and Democrats alike, have continued to interfere to limit Haiti’s sovereignty and democracy. We believe this interference keeps Haiti poor, subservient and unstable. It also forces Haitians to flee the country they love to find safety in the U.S. and elsewhere. In 1893, abolitionist Frederick Douglass noted that “while slavery existed amongst us, Haiti’s example was a sharp thorn in our side.” He added that after abolition, we continued to mistreat Haiti. Douglass connected this mistreatment to Haitians and Jefferson’s fears of their liberty being contagious: “In striking for their freedom, they struck for the freedom of every Black man in the world.” Douglass had seen U.S. interference up close as the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, where he was pressured to forcibly obtain land for a U.S. military base and wrest unfair advantages for U.S. corporations.
The interference continued — including the U.S. Marine occupation from 1915 to 1934 that included an imposed constitution written by Franklin D. Roosevelt that gave non-Haitians new rights. Then we have President Bill Clinton forcing Haiti to drop rice tariffs, that he later conceded decimated Haitian agriculture, and the 2004 overthrow of Haiti’s President Jean-Bertrand Aristide for resisting U.S. economic policy prescriptions. Most recently, the administrations of Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden have propped up governments run by the Partie Haitienne Tet Kale (PHTK) party as it relentlessly dismantled Haiti’s democracy from 2012 to last year.
The PHTK — with long and deep ties to gangs — generated the current acute crisis and forced Haitians to flee both repression and poverty for over a decade. Many of those fleeing arrived in South Florida. The State Department finally withdrew support from the PHTK government last March after armed groups took over much of Port-au-Prince. The U.S. then insisted on the PHTK and its allies having three of the seven voting seats on the Transitional Presidential Council. That decision has hobbled Haiti’s transition to democracy, and a U.S.-funded mission led by Kenyan police has failed to push the gangs back.
Haitians and their supporters will have much to do to stand up to the challenges facing their community in the U.S. over the next four years. But any of us who dream of a prosperous, independent Haiti inspiring Black freedom and equality worldwide or, like new Secretary of State Marco Rubio, want to reduce the migratory pressure from Haiti should insist that the U.S. government stop interfering and allow Haitians the freedom to prosper.
Marleine Bastien is a Miami-Dade county commissioner representing District 2 and founder of the Family Action Network Movement. Brian Concannon is executive director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, www.ijdh.org. https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article299348414.html#storylink=cpy