A long-simmering crisis over Haiti's ability to govern itself, especially in the wake of a series of natural disasters and an increasingly dire humanitarian emergency, comes as the de facto president remains stranded in Puerto Rico and his people starve. It has reached its peak in the Caribbean country. And they live in fear of rampant violence.
The turmoil engulfing the country has been simmering for more than a year, but on Monday night Haiti's unpopular Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed to resign if an interim government is formed brokered by other Caribbean nations. The confusion spread to the world stage.Parties including the United States
But the very idea of a transitional government brokered by outsiders rather than Haitians is a key reason the country of 11 million people is on the brink, according to humanitarian workers and residents who have called for a Haiti-led solution. It is said to be one of the
“What we're seeing in Haiti has been building since the 2010 earthquake,” said Greg Beckett, an associate professor of anthropology at Canada's Western University.
What is happening in Haiti and why?
In the power vacuum following the assassination of democratically elected President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, Henry, who had served as prime minister under Moïse, assumed power with the support of several countries, including the United States. .
When Haiti repeatedly failed to hold elections, which Henry said were due to logistical problems and violence, there were protests against him. By the time Prime Minister Henry announced last year that elections would be postponed again to 2025, armed groups already active in the capital, Port-au-Prince, had increased their violence.
Even before Mr. Moïse's assassination, these militias and armed groups existed alongside politicians, using everything from intimidating opposition groups to soliciting votes to do their bidding. But as the country's elected officials dwindle, many of these rebels have resorted to excessive violence, capturing at least 80% of the capital, according to United Nations estimates.
According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program at Sweden's Uppsala University, these groups include paramilitary groups and former police officers posing as local leaders, and have been implicated in an increase in murders, kidnappings, and rapes since Moise's death. It is said that there is. More than 8,400 people will be killed, injured or kidnapped in 2023, a 122% increase compared to 2022, according to a United Nations report released in January.
“January and February were the most violent months of the recent crisis, with thousands of people killed, injured or raped,” Beckett said.
Militants demanding Henry's resignation have already attacked airports, police stations, ports, the central bank and the national soccer stadium. The situation reached a crisis point earlier this month when two of the country's main prisons were attacked, forcing around 4,000 prisoners to flee. The beleaguered government imposed a 72-hour state of emergency, including a curfew, but its powers had evaporated by then.
Aside from man-made catastrophes, Haiti has yet to fully recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed around 220,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless, many living in poor and exposed housing. It has not been restored. More earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods have followed, undermining infrastructure rebuilding efforts and a sense of national unity.
Since the earthquake, “there have been groups in Haiti that are trying to control the rebuilding process and the funding, the billions of dollars coming in to rebuild,” said Beckett, who specializes in the Caribbean and especially Haiti. .
Beckett said control came first from politicians and then from armed groups supported by those politicians. “The political party that was in control of the government corruptly used the government to steal its funds. We are seeing the effects of that.”
A number of armed groups have formed in recent years claiming to be community groups carrying out essential work in disadvantaged areas, but instead have been accused of violence and even murder. One of the two main groups, the G-9, is led by former elite police officer Jimmy Sheridier (also known as “Barbecue”), who became the public face of the riot and organized public institutions. He has claimed credit for various attacks on . He publicly called on Henry to resign and called his movement an “armed revolution.”
But Haitians are also caught in the crossfire. The United Nations estimates that 15,000 people were evacuated from Port-au-Prince in just one week. But people have been trying to flee the capital for more than a year, with one woman telling NBC News that she is currently hiding in a church with her three children, and another family with eight children. Ta. The United Nations says around 160,000 people have left Port-au-Prince due to increased violence over the past few months.
Severe poverty and hunger are also serious risks. The gangs have cut off access to the country's largest port, Autorité Portuere Nationale, and there may soon be food shortages.
Haiti's uncertain future
A new transitional government could disappoint Haitians and their supporters who want a Haiti-led solution to the crisis.
But the establishment of such a government would come after years of democratic turmoil and the collapse of Haiti's political leadership. This country has not held an election in eight years.
Haitian advocates and academics like Jemima Pierre, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, argue that part of the cause of Haiti's turmoil is foreign intervention, including the United States. The United States has routinely sent thousands of troops to Haiti, intervened in the government, and supported unpopular leaders like Henry.
“What we have achieved over the last 20 years is a consistent dismantling of the Haitian state,” Pierre said. “What intervention means for Haiti, and what it has always meant, is death and destruction.”
In fact, the situation in the country was so dire that Henry was forced to travel abroad to secure a UN peacekeeping agreement. He went to Kenya, where Kenya agreed to send 1,000 troops to coordinate an East African and UN-backed alliance to help restore order in Haiti. However, that plan is currently on hold. Last October, Kenya agreed to send U.N.-sanctioned security forces to Haiti, but a Kenyan court ruled that was unconstitutional. As a result, Haiti was forced to defend itself.
“Forces like Kenya don't speak Crayon or French,” Pierre said. “The Kenyan police are known for human rights abuses. So, the only thing we as Haitians deserve is not schools, or reparations for cholera brought by the United Nations, but all kinds of force against our people.” What does it say about the military being empowered to do that? That's unacceptable.”
Mr. Henry was forced to announce his plans to resign from Puerto Rico after threats of violence and the occupation of the airport by armed groups prevented his return.
Now that Henry is set to step down, it is not at all clear what the insurgents will do or demand next, apart from governing rights.
“It is the Haitian people who know what they are going through. It is the Haitian people who take their destiny into their own hands.”According to the Associated Press, the Haitian people know what they are going through. I would choose,” Cherizier said recently.
Haitians and their allies have long offered their own solutions, arguing that foreign intervention routinely ignores the voices and wishes of Haitians.
In 2021, church leaders, both Haitian and non-Haitian, women's rights groups, lawyers, humanitarian workers, the voodoo sector, and others formed a commission to seek Haiti's solutions to the crisis. The committee proposed the Montana Accord, which outlines a two-year interim government that would create an oversight commission tasked with restoring order, combating corruption and ensuring fair elections.
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