Haiti’s tumultuous politics have been rocked by fractions and led by highly divisive personalities who are often in league with criminals. Corruption is institutionalized, poverty is widespread, and the Haitians themselves are frequently victimized by the very politicians who are supposed to care for their needs. Foreign interventions, including a U.N.-led force that lasted for 15 years, have done nothing to mitigate the situation—if anything, the problems only grew worse after foreigners got involved.
Yet as perverse as it may sound, the days when U.N. troops were patrolling the streets look like a cakewalk compared to Haiti’s current state. Ever since the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, the Haitian government has been led by Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who most Haitians view as entirely illegitimate and ineffectual. There are no democratic institutions to speak of and virtually no democratic officeholders in the country. The World Food Programme reported in March that about half of Haiti’s population, roughly 5 million people, are struggling to access food supplies. In some areas around Port-au-Prince, the capital city, the numbers go up to 97 percent.
All of this is occurring as a pool of gangs terrorize the population with impunity. The most recent report by the U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti assessed that more than 1,860 people were killed, injured, or kidnapped between April and June—a 14 percent increase from the previous three months. The Haitian National Police, plagued by recruitment problems, is unable to stem the bleeding. “Delays in recruitment and training have prevented the much-needed admission of new police officers,” the U.N.’s mission in Haiti said, “raising serious concerns about the national police’s capacity to enforce the law and restore public order throughout the country in the absence of urgent measures to address police workforce strength.”
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