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Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
The international community and Haiti's time of need
Opinion To characterize the conditions today in Haiti as staggeringly grim would be a gross understatement. Indeed, the situation on the ground in the chronically impoverished country has clearly gotten worse over the last six months. But the world has largely chosen to look away rather than to confront the problem head-on. As a result, gang violence continues to surge and horrendous crimes go unpunished — such as murder, rape and kidnapping — while the drug trade deepens its grip on the country. These criminal gangs control almost 90 per cent of Haiti's capital, a large portion of the northwestern Artibonite area and a handful of municipalities in the Central Plateau region. Add to that the fact that over one million Haitians (half of whom are children) have been internally displaced and hunger is becoming more widespread (with almost six million people having trouble finding food and medicine). Hospitals have also had to close, schools are barely hanging on and there is no such thing in Haiti as a social safety net. Furthermore, there have not been legitimate democratic elections held in Haiti for almost 10 years. And Haiti's current nine-person Transitional Presidential Council has been plagued by internecine politics, corruption and impotence. Equally troubling, the existing Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, led by some 1,000 Kenyan police and security officers, has underperformed. To be fair, they have come under heavy gang attack, recently lost two of their members, and are badly outnumbered and outgunned. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has, moreover, only exacerbated the situation. It has largely ignored the Haitian crisis (shuffling it off to the Organization of American States), raised questions about future funding for the MSS operation and done very little to stop deadly weapons from Florida being smuggled into the country. In addition, Trump has clearly compounded the humanitarian catastrophe by gutting the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and slashing development assistance to Haiti. Trump has also sought to deport distraught Haitians, to turn away asylum-seeking Haitians and has even rolled back Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians living in the U.S. Yes, it's true that the menace in the U.S. White House, the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East have taken up a lot of oxygen in the backrooms of power. But that's a really poor excuse for inaction on Haiti. There are things that can be done to ameliorate the conditions on the ground. Clearly, the violent gang activity needs to be attenuated and gradually neutralized so that the country can be stabilized and free and fair general elections can take place. There also needs to be an acceptable, and manifestly robust, military presence in the country to ensure order and public safety. Perhaps that will require a capable peace enforcement operation with the imprimatur of the United Nations. Most important, Haitians desperately need development assistance of all kinds (financial, medical, social, educational, governance and institutional) to get themselves back on their feet again. But we're talking here about a massive, multifaceted aid program that needs serious financial resources from any and every country that can spare it. Much of this, of course, requires large dollops of cash and political will, which is obviously in short supply these days. But there is nothing that says it has to be that way. Yet political decision-makers, and those with power to do something, have chosen not to act. It seems pretty clear that a desperately poor and mostly black Caribbean country — to say nothing of its former status as a key slave colony — doesn't much register on the international radar screen. It makes you wonder if Haiti was a predominantly white, European country whether the world's response would be so callous and negligent. Conveniently, Western governments and political leaders are quick to dismiss Haiti as fundamentally broken and simply beyond repair. Let's be honest: to them, it's a god-awful quagmire and a political minefield that they just don't want anything to do with. So they justify their inaction and indifference by labelling Haiti a 'failed state' and then blame Haitians themselves for their own misfortune. The sad reality is that governments around the world (and here I include the so-called 'Friends of Haiti' such as Canada, France and Brazil) have come to the stark conclusion that Haiti is not worth the effort to save. Stated differently, they are not going to sacrifice putting their military men and women in harm's way (or to cough up the requisite financial resources) for the sake of Haitian lives or their overall well-being. I have come to believe that this destitute country will have to explode into a continuous morass of violence and death before the world community will even notice. And even then one wonders whether the response to the ongoing crisis in Haiti will be sufficient to make a real difference. Peter McKenna is professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
Economist
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Economist
Killer gangs are inches from ruling all of Haiti
The collapse of Haiti's government in April last year was a challenge but also an opportunity. An interim government called the Transitional Presidential Council was installed. A UN-brokered Kenyan-led security mission arrived soon after. But a year later things are worse than ever. 'We are approaching a point of no return,' María Isabel Salvador, the UN's top official in Haiti, told its Security Council at a meeting on April 21st.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Haiti to hit pause on rebooting of a commission to disarm violent gangs
A rebooted effort in Haiti to disarm the country's criminal gangs and reintegrate child soldiers into society is getting put on hold. The government of the volatile country, whose armed gangs have been deemed by the Trump administration to be a global menace, is temporarily dissolving a disarmament commission after concerns were raised over the credibility of one of its newest appointees. The decision was confirmed to the Miami Herald by the head of the Transitional Presidential Council, Fritz Alphonse Jean, on Friday, hours after the Trump administration designated several Haitian gangs as foreign and global terrorists and after the National Human Rights Defense Network blasted a decision to expand the National Commission for Disarmament, Dismantling and Reinsertion by bringing on board its former commissioner. The purpose of the commission is to help reintegrate the young people and children. who are increasingly being recruited by armed groups and to facilitate the disarmament of armed groups. 'The presidential council took a resolution to dissolve the [commission] in the next minister council meeting until more additional consultations with civil society organizations and personalities in the public and private sectors,' Jean said. On Wednesday, Jean and his fellow council members appointed Jean Rebel Dorcénat, the former head of the commission and another individual to the group to bring the total membership to nine after seven others were appointed in February. The moves, Jean, said were made 'in good faith.' However, the head of the National Human Rights Defense Network, Pierre Esperance, accused the council of 'compensating' Dorcénat for his alleged ties to gangs and called on the council to reverse course. Dorcénat previously served as head of the commission after it was reactivated by Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Formed by executive order in 2006, its task is to disarm and dismantle gangs, a job that brings its members into contact with armed groups and their leaders. However, Dorcénat has long faced criticisms and accusations of being sympathetic to gang leaders based on radio nterviews he has given on the radio, and the access he has been alleged to have. Dorcénat could not be reached for comment, but in the past he has said that his comments — and role as head of the commission — have been misinterpreted, including those about his role in uniting the capital's main gang leaders under the G-9 Family and Allies umbrella. The alliance is headed by former policeman Jimmy 'Barbecue' Chérizier, who in September 2023 joined forces with other gang leaders to help create Viv Ansanm, the powerful coalition sowing chaos in Port-au-Prince and whose name translates to Living Together. A 2020 article in Haiti's Le Nouvelliste newspaper, following a radio interview Dorcénat did on its Magik 9 radio station, quoted him as assisting in the formation of the G-9 by asking Chérizier and other gang leaders to come together under a single platform in order to better facilitate negotiations with them. 'They are federated because we have a job to do with them,' he was quoted as saying at the time. He added that the goal was to stop the gangs from killing. Esperance, who blasted the decision in a letter to Jean and the council, said the consolidation of Haiti's gangs has given birth to a coalition of murderers and kidnappers who have forced tens of thousands of people from their homes, led to the lost of thousands of lives and livelihoods and brought an entire nation to its knees. 'Everyone can see that after the gangs federated, they became more heavily armed, and were implicated in more kidnappings and carried out more massacres,' Esperance said. 'At this moment, when the United Nations has taken sanctions against them and the U.S. has designated them as terrorists, for the [Transitional Presidential Council] to put him on the disarmament commission—this is a slap in the face of all of the victims and to everyone who is living under the terror of the gangs.' On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which includes the G-9 and 26 other armed groups, and the Gran Grif gang, operating in Haiti's Artibonite region, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The label gives the U.S. wide latitude and opens anyone providing material support to sanctions, criminal charges and deportations if they live in the United States. They can also be banned from entering the U.S. The designations was met with few public statements but lots of private chatter as many people in Haiti's business and humanitarian communities try to understand the meaning and implications for their dealings in the country. In a joint statement, two political entities in Haiti said they welcome the 'historic decision' but added it doesn't go far enough. The designations need to be accompanied by an international plan aimed 'at effectively eradicating in the coming months criminal groups that have taken our beautiful country hostage,' the statement signed by four leaders representing the groups known as the December 21 coalition and the EDE political party said. Earlier this year, both asked the Trump administration to label Haitian gangs as foreign terrorists. Jean, the president of the ruling council, said the designation is a recognition of the complexity of the country's ongoing crisis, but also presents a conundrum given armed gangs tightening grip and recent expansion into other regions of the country, which has led to millions of Haitians requiring humanitarian assistance. But as the country relied on international assistance such as the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission to support the Haitian national police and Haiti's small armed forces, Jean said, 'we believe that our international partners did not fully comprehend the full extent of the crisis and the nature of the violence in Haiti. The foreign terrorist designation, he said, 'is a recognition of the reality of the crisis we are facing.'
Miami Herald
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Haiti to hit pause on rebooting of a commission to disarm violent gangs
A rebooted effort in Haiti to disarm the country's criminal gangs and reintegrate child soldiers into society is getting put on hold. The government of the volatile country, whose armed gangs have been deemed by the Trump administration to be a global menace, is temporarily dissolving a disarmament commission after concerns were raised over the credibility of one of its newest appointees. The decision was confirmed to the Miami Herald by the head of the Transitional Presidential Council, Fritz Alphonse Jean, on Friday, hours after the Trump administration designated several Haitian gangs as foreign and global terrorists and after the National Human Rights Defense Network blasted a decision to expand the National Commission for Disarmament, Dismantling and Reinsertion by bringing on board its former commissioner. The purpose of the commission is to help reintegrate the young people and children. who are increasingly being recruited by armed groups and to facilitate the disarmament of armed groups. 'The presidential council took a resolution to dissolve the [commission] in the next minister council meeting until more additional consultations with civil society organizations and personalities in the public and private sectors,' Jean said. On Wednesday, Jean and his fellow council members appointed Jean Rebel Dorcénat, the former head of the commission and another individual to the group to bring the total membership to nine after seven others were appointed in February. The moves, Jean, said were made 'in good faith.' However, the head of the National Human Rights Defense Network, Pierre Esperance, accused the council of 'compensating' Dorcénat for his alleged ties to gangs and called on the council to reverse course. Dorcénat previously served as head of the commission after it was reactivated by Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Formed by executive order in 2006, its task is to disarm and dismantle gangs, a job that brings its members into contact with armed groups and their leaders. However, Dorcénat has long faced criticisms and accusations of being sympathetic to gang leaders based on radio nterviews he has given on the radio, and the access he has been alleged to have. Dorcénat could not be reached for comment, but in the past he has said that his comments — and role as head of the commission — have been misinterpreted, including those about his role in uniting the capital's main gang leaders under the G-9 Family and Allies umbrella. The alliance is headed by former policeman Jimmy 'Barbecue' Chérizier, who in September 2023 joined forces with other gang leaders to help create Viv Ansanm, the powerful coalition sowing chaos in Port-au-Prince and whose name translates to Living Together. A 2020 article in Haiti's Le Nouvelliste newspaper, following a radio interview Dorcénat did on its Magik 9 radio station, quoted him as assisting in the formation of the G-9 by asking Chérizier and other gang leaders to come together under a single platform in order to better facilitate negotiations with them. 'They are federated because we have a job to do with them,' he was quoted as saying at the time. He added that the goal was to stop the gangs from killing. Esperance, who blasted the decision in a letter to Jean and the council, said the consolidation of Haiti's gangs has given birth to a coalition of murderers and kidnappers who have forced tens of thousands of people from their homes, led to the lost of thousands of lives and livelihoods and brought an entire nation to its knees. 'Everyone can see that after the gangs federated, they became more heavily armed, and were implicated in more kidnappings and carried out more massacres,' Esperance said. 'At this moment, when the United Nations has taken sanctions against them and the U.S. has designated them as terrorists, for the [Transitional Presidential Council] to put him on the disarmament commission—this is a slap in the face of all of the victims and to everyone who is living under the terror of the gangs.' On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which includes the G-9 and 26 other armed groups, and the Gran Grif gang, operating in Haiti's Artibonite region, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The label gives the U.S. wide latitude and opens anyone providing material support to sanctions, criminal charges and deportations if they live in the United States. They can also be banned from entering the U.S. The designations was met with few public statements but lots of private chatter as many people in Haiti's business and humanitarian communities try to understand the meaning and implications for their dealings in the country. In a joint statement, two political entities in Haiti said they welcome the 'historic decision' but added it doesn't go far enough. The designations need to be accompanied by an international plan aimed 'at effectively eradicating in the coming months criminal groups that have taken our beautiful country hostage,' the statement signed by four leaders representing the groups known as the December 21 coalition and the EDE political party said. Earlier this year, both asked the Trump administration to label Haitian gangs as foreign terrorists. Jean, the president of the ruling council, said the designation is a recognition of the complexity of the country's ongoing crisis, but also presents a conundrum given armed gangs tightening grip and recent expansion into other regions of the country, which has led to millions of Haitians requiring humanitarian assistance. But as the country relied on international assistance such as the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission to support the Haitian national police and Haiti's small armed forces, Jean said, 'we believe that our international partners did not fully comprehend the full extent of the crisis and the nature of the violence in Haiti. The foreign terrorist designation, he said, 'is a recognition of the reality of the crisis we are facing.'
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Haiti police, army to get more money in ‘war budget,' but overall increase still small
Haiti's security forces are getting an additional $33.46 million this year to take on the country's armed gangs, whose escalating attacks have left communities decimated, police stations in flames and nearly half of the population going hungry. But the increase, announced as part of a revision to the country's current annual budget, is coming under criticism from political figures and at least one economist because very little of the funding is coming from new revenue. Instead, they money in what the government is labeling a 'war budget' is being shifted from other priorities, such as the cleaning of canals in flood-prone communities and agriculture investments, while the government has shown no willingness to reduce its own spending. 'This budget isn't going to make any difference,' said Clarens Renois, a former journalist and head of the Union Nationale pour l'Intégrité et la Réconciliation party, who says the country's ruling Transitional Presidential Council is keeping its hefty pay. 'If you have a war budget, the first thing you would like to see is the council making the sacrifice and reducing their own salaries. You don't see any reductions.' The council, which has been criticized for using intelligence money to fund its salaries in the amended 2024-25 budget, which began on Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30. Aimed at tackling armed gangs and the worsening humanitarian crisis, it described making 'a strategic distribution' of $277 million to support the national police and Armed Forces of Haiti. It 'reflects the firm will of the State to act decisively on the security, humanitarian and institutional fronts,' the ruling panel said in a statement. Before Monday's amended budget was approved by the council of ministers, Haiti's overall budget was 323.445 billion Haitian gourdes — or $2,488,038,461 in U.S. dollars — for an estimated 12 million people. After the decision was made to increase spending on anti-gang efforts, the new budget was approved at 323.451 billion gourdes, or $2,488,084,615. The difference between the old budget and the new one amounts to an additional $45,831 — a minuscule boost for a nation not only reeling from uncontrolled gang violence but its fallout, which is being felt in the capital of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas. Gangs are carrying out deadly attacks that have left more than 1,000 people dead since the beginning of the year and are taking over communities in the capital and areas in other regions of Haiti. On Monday, as the new spending plan was being rolled out, a gang leader circulated a video showing him destroying a police station in the town of Mirebalais, northeast of Port-au-Prince. Mirebalais and the town of Saut'd'Eau in central Haiti are the latest to come under the control of members of the powerful Viv Ansanm gang coalition. Spending for the Haiti National Police in the revised budget will now be boosted to $253.85 million, a 10% increase. The Armed Forces of Haiti will see a 20% funding increase to $64.43 million. The amounts, however, are still a pittance compared to what is needed for equipment, weapons or to even replace the dozens of police stations that have been destroyed by gangs. None of the funds will go toward the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission, which is financed through voluntary contributions to a United Nations trust fund. The mission received over $629 million from the United States under the Biden administration last year to fund its operations, which included $400 million to operate a base. Another winner in the budget changes will be social programs focused on education and humanitarian assistance. The funding will increase from $639.2 million to $688.4 million. Some critics say it's not enough, considering more than a million people are homeless and living in soiled encampments that don't even have latrines or access to drinking water, and thousands are being deported each month from the neighboring Dominican Republic. There is also concern that the revised budget will mean less money for food production and public works, which though not a priority in the capital are vital necessities in rural communities where torrential rains this week pose the risk of landslides and deaths. 'When you are pulling money out of public works and agriculture to put in social programs. and security it may not seem like a bad thing, but in the mid-term and long-term you are going to pay for it because you're going to get less infrastructure, and you are going to get less food production,' said Kesner Pharel, an economist who lives in Port-au-Prince. Pharel said his analysis shows that while there are significant budget increases for the security forces, he doesn't see anything in the amended changes to promote growth to continue paying for the funding. Also, the government is paying for the changes by going deeper into debt, borrowing from treasury bonds. 'We need a war budget to fight poverty and extreme poverty. We don't need a war budget to be feeding into institutions like the army and the police that cannot perform,' Pharel said. 'We are losing plenty of territories, we are losing police stations, we are losing almost everything. They've increased the security budget for the last five years, but what have been the results? What is the performance, beside losing more territories every day?' The government and nine-member transitional presidential council, he said, 'are trying to see how they can solve a short-term problem' by doing business as usual. 'The first thing to do is to change the structure of the government. You can't have the same structure like, the same number of ministries,' Pharel said. 'You have too many ministries, you have too many people, too many organizations. They're spending money like hell.' One example is the 3.5 billion gourdes, or $26.9 million, in the budget for Parliament. Haiti hasn't had a parliament since the last 10 senators left office in 2022 and its building is currently in a no-go zone that's been overtaken by armed groups. 'Where are the employees? Who are you paying for? What are they doing?' Pharel said. Renois said Haiti's exploding gang phenomenon isn't just about armed groups exacting violence on the population, but about the inequality and grinding poverty in communities that have been abandoned by the government. 'To make a difference you would need to have a budget that allows the police and the army to hire more people, and they would need equipment. From what I see, there aren't enough provisions here for that,' Renois said. 'It's clear there is no political will to change the situation.'
