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‘Haiti’s government has become far weaker and more riven by corruption than the one that flailed in 2010.’ Photograph: Reginald Louissaint Jr/AFP/Getty Images

The latest statistics from Haiti’s August 14 earthquake are stark: at least 2,207 people have been confirmed dead and more than 12,000 injured. More than 130,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. Aftershocks continue, and new landslides in the wake of the follow-on Tropical Storm Grace mean those numbers are expected to rise in the coming weeks.

But the most dispiriting number is 11. That is the number of years that passed between Haiti’s last major earthquake and this one – years in which corruption has hollowed out the state, armed gangs have expanded their territorial control, and political turmoil has intensified, culminating in the assassination of the president, Jovenel Moïse, in July.…  Seguir leyendo »

If the ouster of President Morsi in Egypt teaches anything to the international community, it is that the mere organization of elections is not a panacea in countries with a long tradition of corruption and dictatorship.

Those who try to understand why not much has changed in Haiti 27 years after the fall of the Duvalier regime are quick to point exclusively at our corrupt, ruthless and incompetent leaders. However, a closer look at the country’s perpetual crisis will show that corruption, incompetence and irresponsibility have always been supported by an important portion of the Haitian population. Why?

The reasons are manifold.…  Seguir leyendo »

When international donors meet at the United Nations headquarters in New York on March 31 to continue discussions on rebuilding Haiti, it will present what former Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani calls "an open moment" - a brief period in time that will determine a country's future direction. Reconstructing roads and buildings is vital, but if Haiti is to use this moment to break away from the poverty, despair and environmental degradation that has plagued it for the past two centuries, it will have to do a lot more. In order to achieve lasting changes, Haiti must rebuild its decrepit government institutions with strong anti-corruption policies and a clean bureaucracy.…  Seguir leyendo »