Haití - Revista de Prensa

10 Conflicts to Watch: Haiti

Miércoles, 08/Ene/2025 Crisis Group Crisis Group MundoAméricaCrimen organizado, Haití

Many Haitians’ hopes that a new government and a Kenya-led multinational police mission could loosen criminal gangs’ grip on the country have been shattered.

Since President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in July 2021, the gangs have seized much of Haiti. Historically used by elites for profiteering or to take out rivals, such groups have grown more powerful and autonomous. In early 2024, an alliance of previously warring gangs, known as Viv Ansanm, besieged the capital of Port-au-Prince. Ariel Henry, an unpopular prime minister who took over after Moïse was killed, was in Nairobi at the time overseeing the creation of the police mission and unable to fly home.… Seguir leyendo »

Haiti’s Window of Opportunity

Jueves, 29/Ago/2024 Diego Da Rin, Renata Segura Foreign Affairs MundoAméricaHaití

In late July, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield visited Haiti and sounded an upbeat note. “I do have a sense of hope”, she said at a press conference, citing the “many people here on the ground” who were “working every day to create a better future for the Haitian people”. She was referring, in part, to the roughly 400 Kenyan police officers who have arrived in Port-au-Prince as part of an international peacekeeping force that is eventually projected to number 2,500. The hope is that this UN Security Council–approved mission—formally referred to as the Multinational Security Support mission (MSS)—will allow Haiti to assert control over the country’s gangs, which have established de facto control over much of the capital’s neighborhoods and plunged the country into a dramatic humanitarian crisis.… Seguir leyendo »

U.S. Military Planes Are in Haiti. Haitians Don’t Know Why.

Viernes, 14/Jun/2024 Pierre Espérance Foreign Policy MundoAméricaEEUU, Haití

In the past several weeks, I have watched dozens of sleek U.S. military planes descend over Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where I live. They were the first flights to land since gangs blockaded and halted commercial air traffic in March. U.S. news reports suggest that the aircraft contained civilian contractors and supplies to pave the way for the deployment of a Kenyan-led security mission to Haiti, which is expected to begin any day now.

But no one has informed Haitians who or what was on board. Even the members of Haiti’s new transitional government told me that they did not know precisely what the United States was flying into the country.… Seguir leyendo »

Watch List 2024 – Spring Update. Haiti: A New Government Faces Up to the Gangs

Domingo, 26/May/2024 Crisis Group Crisis Group MundoAméricaCrimen organizado, Haití

Gang violence, which has tightened its grip on Haiti since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July 2021, took a drastic turn for the worse at the end of February. Rather than fighting each other for turf, as they have done for years, the most powerful criminal gangs operating in Port-au-Prince and its surroundings made a non-aggression pact in order to forge a united front against the Haitian authorities. The gangs, which had been loosely organised in two rival coalitions known as the G9 and the Gpèp, proceeded to launch coordinated attacks on government buildings and critical infrastructure while the interim prime minister, Ariel Henry, was out of the country.… Seguir leyendo »

Haiti on the Precipice

Domingo, 28/Abr/2024 Pooja Bhatia The New York Review MundoAméricaHaití

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 »

How to Take on Haiti’s Gangs

Martes, 02/Abr/2024 Pierre Espérance Foreign Affairs MundoAméricaHaití

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

Domingo, 31/Mar/2024 Jean-Philippe Austin The New York Times MundoAméricaCrimen organizado, Haití

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 »

‘Barbacoa’ Chérizier: un gángster despiadado detrás de la anarquía en Haití

Lunes, 18/Mar/2024 Amalendu Misra The Conversation MundoAméricaCrimen organizado, Haití, Violencia

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

Viernes, 15/Mar/2024 Jorge Heine Project Syndicate MundoAméricaHaití

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 »

Haiti Is Facing an Insurgency, Not a Gang Problem

Viernes, 15/Mar/2024 Alexander Causwell Foreign Policy MundoAméricaHaití

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 »

Haití, un país en extinción

Martes, 12/Mar/2024 Sergio Ramírez El País MundoAméricaHaití

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 »

This time Haiti really is on the brink. The US and UN must act to restore order

Viernes, 08/Mar/2024 Christopher Sabatini Chatham House MundoAméricaHaití

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 »

10 Conflicts to Watch in 2024

Martes, 02/Ene/2024 Crisis Group Crisis Group InternacionalArmenia, Azerbaiyán, China, Conflicto armado, Conflicto palestino-israelí, Conflicto territorial, Etiopía, Haití, Rusia, Sahel, Sudán, Ucrania, Unión de Myanmar/Birmania

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 »

Haïti : « L’engagement de l’ONU cache mal les limites et les contradictions de la diplomatie internationale »

Martes, 21/Nov/2023 Frédéric Thomas Le Monde MundoAméricaHaití

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 »

Haiti Doesn’t Need More Guns. It Needs a New Government

Jueves, 05/Oct/2023 Pierre Espérance The New York Times MundoAméricaHaití

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 »

The Real Intervention Haiti Needs

Jueves, 14/Sep/2023 Malick W. Ghachem Foreign Policy MundoAméricaHaití

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 »

Haiti is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe

Martes, 08/Ago/2023 Catherine Russell CNN MundoAméricaHaití

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 »

The U.S. Still Can Do What’s Right for Haiti

Viernes, 14/Jul/2023 Jake Johnston The New York Times MundoAméricaEEUU, Haití

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 »

More Police Won’t Solve Haiti’s Crisis

Miércoles, 05/Jul/2023 Pierre Espérance Foreign Policy MundoAméricaHaití, Violencia

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

Viernes, 02/Jun/2023 Jean W. Pape The New York Times MundoAméricaHaití

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 »