Haití

Police officers on patrol, Port-au-Prince, April 25, 2023. Richard Perrin/AFP/Getty Images

MundoAmérica

On Thursday, Ariel Henry formally resigned as prime minister of Haiti. Few were grateful for his service. Over thirty-two months, the longest premiership since 1987, Henry presided over a country where life grew steadily worse. For the past five years armed groups had terrorized the capital, Port-au-Prince; in January they intensified their assault. On February 29 they united forces and launched a full-scale uprising: they engineered two prison breaks and freed some 4,700 prisoners, engaged in firefights with the outgunned national police, shut down the airport, torched commissariats, and attacked banks and private homes.

When the uprising began Henry was away in Nairobi finalizing the terms of a foreign intervention, blessed by the United Nations and brokered by the United States.…  Seguir leyendo »

Former police officer and gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 2024. Ralph Tedy Erol / Reuters

MundoAmérica

Haiti is finally addressing its profound crisis in leadership. For more than a dozen years, Haiti’s leaders have dismantled democratic institutions and relied on corruption and gangs to maintain their control. After President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021, Ariel Henry, who was deeply unpopular among Haitians, became prime minister with the help of international support. His tenuous hold on power led to increasingly brazen acts of sabotage and violence by astonishingly well-armed and increasingly independent street gangs jockeying for territory and dominance.

In early March, the gangs united to declare war on the state, attacking the airport, police stations, and government buildings.…  Seguir leyendo »

Do Not Empower the Criminals in Haiti

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Here’s what I remember most about my childhood growing up under a dictatorship in Haiti: fear.

We could never speak against the president-for-life, François Duvalier. My classmates, the children of regime officials, were dropped off at school by big men with guns. One night, men came to take our neighbor’s father, and no one ever saw him again. Sometimes we would walk by the National Palace and avert our eyes, too afraid to even look onto the grounds.

It is agonizing to watch yet another generation of Haitians living with terror. Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, the country’s network of gangs, some sponsored by government officials, have gained territory, arms and audacity.…  Seguir leyendo »

The leader between the violence in Haiti, Jimmy Chérizier, speaking to the media in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 2021. Orlando Barria / EPA

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Una violenta revuelta en Haití ha puesto en el punto de mira al hombre que dirige el caos: un jefe de una banda homicida y ex policía llamado Jimmy “Barbacoa” Chérizier.

En las últimas dos semanas, las poderosas bandas de Haití han inducido el coma a un país que ya estaba con respiración asistida. Más de 3 800 delincuentes curtidos se fugaron de las dos mayores cárceles, el aeropuerto internacional ha sido parcialmente tomado y las bandas han intentado apoderarse del barrio administrativo de su capital, Puerto Príncipe.

Tras la reciente ola de violencia, el presidente en funciones, Ariel Henry, ha aceptado dimitir una vez que se haya creado un consejo de transición para dirigir el país.…  Seguir leyendo »

Vacilando mientras Haití arde

MundoAmérica

El primer ministro de uno de los países más grandes del Caribe viaja a África oriental para pedir ayuda policial contra la violencia de las pandillas, que hace poco atacaron la penitenciaría nacional y liberaron a 4000 presos. Fracasado el intento, sobrevuela otra vez el Atlántico, pero su avión no puede aterrizar porque las bandas tomaron el control del aeropuerto.

Un país vecino le niega permiso de aterrizaje y termina en un tercer país, mientras el sanguinario jefe de una de las principales pandillas exige su renuncia. Potencias extranjeras expresan preocupación, pero el desafortunado primer ministro queda librado a su suerte.…  Seguir leyendo »

Police officers deploy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 9. Clarens Siffroy/AFP via Getty Images

MundoAmérica

For the past four and a half years, Haiti’s internal security has steadily deteriorated. In 2019, the United Nations concluded 15 years of peacekeeping operations in the country, which had been initiated to address growing instability in the wake of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s 2004 ouster. Under the U.N. mission, an estimated 10,000 international nongovernmental organizations channeled foreign aid into Haiti to help support its social services. But the U.N.’s departure forced many aid groups to withdraw, spiraling the country into social unrest once again.

The 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse was the most visible harbinger—and catalyst—of impending state collapse. That foreign mercenaries managed to kill the president, as both Haitian officials and U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

Un manifestante sostiene una bandera de Haití durante una protesta para exigir la renuncia del primer ministro Ariel Henry, el pasado 1 de marzo en Puerto Príncipe.Odelyn Joseph (AP)

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Imaginemos un paisaje de desolación y ruina, como el que Corman McCarthy describe La carretera, o vemos en esas películas distópicas del día después. Pero no se trata de un escenario sin nombre, sino de un país real, Haití, que ha vivido un desastre continuado a lo largo de décadas, dictaduras militares, huracanes, terremotos, líderes mesiánicos, gobiernos fallidos, conspiraciones, asesinatos políticos, cofradías de narcotraficantes, oligarquías sordas y mudas; y hoy, 200 pandillas criminales que luchan por imponerse en los territorios, en guerra entre ellas, y contra el Estado.

Hay otros países de América Latina donde las bandas del crimen organizado, dueñas de verdaderos arsenales, controlan territorios que ponen bajo su soberanía, imponen candidatos en las elecciones, tienen en planilla a las autoridades civiles y a la policía, cobran impuestos a agricultores y comerciantes, asesinan periodistas, y erigen su propio sistema judicial en el que impera la pena de muerte.…  Seguir leyendo »

People on a motorcycle carry their belongings as they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, following gang violence in March 2024. (Photo by CLARENS SIFFROY/AFP via Getty Images).

MundoAmérica

A massive jailbreak of more than 4,700 prisoners on 3 March 2024 saw chaos grip Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and much of the rest of the country. The shocking event, organized by powerful criminal gangs, follows a horrifying uptick of violence since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on 7 July 2021.

There are many reasons for Haiti’s lamentable condition, including the legacy of almost 30 years of brutal rule by the Duvalier family, and the 28 years of fraught elections, aborted governments, coups and coup attempts that followed.

59 per cent of the country’s 11 million people live in poverty, aggravated by environmental collapse, extreme weather and natural disasters.…  Seguir leyendo »

China’s President Xi Jinping speaks at the “Senior Chinese Leader Event” held by the National Committee on US-China Relations and the US-China Business Council on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco, California, U.S., November 15, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Pool

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Can we stop things falling apart? 2024 begins with wars burning in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine and peacemaking in crisis. Worldwide, diplomatic efforts to end fighting are failing. More leaders are pursuing their ends militarily. More believe they can get away with it.

War has been on the rise since about 2012, after a decline in the 1990s and early 2000s. First came conflicts in Libya, Syria and Yemen, triggered by the 2011 Arab uprisings. Libya’s instability spilled south, helping set off a protracted crisis in the Sahel region. A fresh wave of major combat followed: the 2020 Azerbaijani-Armenian war over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, horrific fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region that began weeks later, the conflict prompted by the Myanmar army’s 2021 power grab and Russia’s 2022 assault on Ukraine.…  Seguir leyendo »

Francia Florestal, who was injured during clashes between armed gangs in Cite Soleil, sits with her father in a public square where they are taking refuge in the Tabarre neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

MundoAmérica

Malgré un contexte mondial particulièrement chargé, Haïti a été au centre des discussions du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies. Celui-ci a ainsi voté le 2 octobre l’envoi d’une «mission multinationale d’appui à la sécurité », et a adopté le rapport final sur le régime de sanctions appliqué à ceux qui soutiennent la violence dans le pays. Une façon de démontrer l’ engagement de l’ONU. Mais cette agitation cache mal les limites et les contradictions de la diplomatie internationale.

La mise en place d’un régime de sanctions et la demande du gouvernement haïtien d’un déploiement d’une force armée spécialisée datent d’octobre 2022.…  Seguir leyendo »

Police officers leaving after a news conference held to show weapons confiscated during an anti-gang operation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on April 26. Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters

MundoAmérica

Years ago, I was part of a team set up under the auspices of the United Nations to vet new police officers in Haiti. We worked to create a professional force that would protect Haitians and purge it of officers connected to the neighborhood gangs that were mugging and kidnapping people for ransom.

Then, in 2011, a new president widely believed to have ties to the gangs and drug dealers came to power. The project fell apart, and our years of effort came to nothing.

Today, the Haitian National Police force is meager — roughly 9,000 officers, compared with about 16,000 in 2021.…  Seguir leyendo »

Men on a motorcycle drive past burning tires during a demonstration a day after a gang attack on a police station that left six officers dead in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 26. Richard Pierrin/AFP via Getty Images

MundoAmérica

As Haiti teeters on the brink of state collapse amid a marked resurgence of kidnappings, insecurity, and gang violence, Western powers have resorted to their usual strategies to try to stabilize the country: sanctions on Haitian elites connected to gangs and efforts to strengthen the national police. Meanwhile, after nearly a year of debate, international actors including Kenya and the United States have inched closer to fulfilling Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s calls for yet another foreign intervention in the country.

There may be a role for punitive measures in the international community’s approach, but any strategy that focuses purely on criminal justice or military-style security mechanisms is doomed to fail, just as past U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica

The abduction last week of an American nurse and her child near Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, late last month is yet another tragic sign of intensifying insecurity in the country.

Across Haiti, 2 million people, including 1.6 million children and women, live in areas controlled by armed groups where the perpetration of horrific violence has become a daily reality, according to internal United Nations estimates. Children are killed walking outside or recruited to participate in the fighting, kidnappings for ransom are on the rise and rates of sexual and gender-based violence are surging.

On my most recent visit to Haiti in June, I met another health care worker who had been kidnapped.…  Seguir leyendo »

Demonstrators with signs that read in Creole, “Justice for Jovenel Moïse,” in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 7, 2022, on the first anniversary of his assassination. Odelyn Joseph/Associated Press

MundoAmérica,

In July 2021, a group of heavily armed men stormed the home of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti, killing him and wounding the first lady. There is still much we don’t know, but the U.S. Department of Justice has said the plot to oust him was hatched in Florida. Eleven people, including several American citizens, have been charged in relation to the conspiracy, and more than 40 people are being held — uncharged — in deplorable conditions in Haiti in connection with the crime.

Legal proceedings against the suspects have been slowly progressing in a largely empty courtroom in South Florida.…  Seguir leyendo »

Police officers patrol a neighborhood amid gang-related violence in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on April 25. Richard Pierrin/AFP via Getty Images

MundoAmérica,

Over the past decade, Haitians have been held captive by a political leadership beholden to gangs. Former President Michel Martelly had extensive ties to drug dealers, money launderers, and gang leaders. Under his successor and protégé, the late Jovenel Moïse, senior government officials helped plan and supply attacks by a police officer-turned-gang leader named Jimmy Chérizier, or Barbecue, who later became a leader of the G-9 Family and Allies gang alliance that now controls much of Port-au-Prince.

When Moïse was assassinated in July 2021, the international community backed Ariel Henry to become prime minister, despite concerns about Henry’s relationship with a key suspect in the assassination.…  Seguir leyendo »

Haiti Has Overcome Other Crises. This Time, We Can’t Do It Alone

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As an infectious disease doctor working in Haiti for over 40 years, I have wrestled with countless tragedies. I have battled problems like H.I.V., tuberculosis, Covid-19, earthquakes, hurricanes and floods. Each time, our community of health care providers, police officers, humanitarian workers, government officials and citizens have pulled together and come up with a solution to steer Haitians to safety.

Today is different.

We now have around 200 gangs, armed with military-grade weapons, rampaging through our neighborhoods, killing, kidnapping and raping our citizens. Civilian casualties are at wartime levels. Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, recently called our situation “a living hell”.…  Seguir leyendo »

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, November 2022. Ralph Tedy Eroll / Reuters

MundoAmérica

To comprehend the depth of the rot in Haitian politics, consider the public figures who have been slapped with sanctions by the U.S. and Canadian governments over the last few months because of their corruption and connections to drug smuggling and gang violence. The list reads like a who’s who of the politically and economically powerful in Haiti. It includes two former Haitian presidents, Michel Martelly and Jocelerme Privert, and two former prime ministers, Laurent Lamothe and Jean-Henry Céant. Also on the sanctions list: two cabinet ministers, four former senators, several leading former members of parliament, and three prominent business figures who together own a good portion of the Haitian banking system.…  Seguir leyendo »

Men react in front of a burning barricade during a protest against the high cost of living and for an end to gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. November 18, 2022. REUTERS / Ralph Tedy Erol

MundoAmérica

Since the murder of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, Haiti has been paralysed by political gridlock and rampant gang violence. Public services have collapsed and cholera is spreading. Things are so bad that some Haitians now pin their hopes on foreign troops, despite the dismal legacy of earlier interventions in Haiti.

Ariel Henry, Haiti’s interim prime minister who took over from Moïse, enjoys support from influential foreign powers but faces stiff Haitian resistance. Since he assumed power, Henry’s rule has been opposed by the Montana Accord, a group of opposition politicians and civil society representatives. Henry was supposed to steer a transition to elections, but rampant insecurity has prevented a vote, and Henry also disbanded the election commission.…  Seguir leyendo »

A demonstrator facing police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 2022. Ralph Tedy Erol / Reuters

MundoAmérica

In Haiti, violence, hunger, and cholera threaten to kill thousands of people. As conditions grow ever more dire, gangs are preventing humanitarian assistance from reaching those on the brink of death. A record 4.7 million people face acute hunger and almost 20,000 people are enduring “catastrophic hunger”, meaning they are at risk of starving to death, according to an October report from the UN World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization. Those in greatest danger live in Cité Soleil, the largest slum in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and home to about 260,000 people. The area is controlled by gangs; for the past six months, lawlessness and violence have made it nearly impossible for urgent humanitarian assistance to reach those most in need.…  Seguir leyendo »

Students on the first day of school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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As a schoolchild in Haiti in the 1970s, I was forbidden to speak my mother tongue, Haitian Creole, which we Haitians call Kreyòl. If I disobeyed, a teacher would remind me with the sharp smack of a ruler across my hand. Kreyòl, which emerged from the contact among French and African languages on colonial plantations, is the only language spoken by all Haitians. But the nation’s education system discriminates against it in favor of French, which is spoken by at most a tenth of the population. Kreyòl-speaking children are subjected to myriad classroom humiliations, including in at least one school a sign that says, “I have to always express myself in French.…  Seguir leyendo »