The state of Haiti no longer exists

The chaos in Haiti is “almost like a scene out of Mad Max” according to Unicef’s Catherine Russell. She may be understating things.

Gangs armed with machine guns and grenade launchers control at least 80 per cent of the capital Port-au-Prince. Earlier this month they seized public buildings, destroyed a hospital, attacked police stations, the main airport and the largest sea terminal. As they looted shops and homes calls to the police went unheard as officers were fighting gun battles in the streets with the gangs. Two prisons were stormed and 5,000 inmates, many of them gang members, freed. Four electricity substations were destroyed leaving large parts of the city without power.

The attacks were coordinated and designed to prevent the return of Prime Minister Ariel Henry and deter international forces from intervening. He was on a visit to Kenya which last year had volunteered to contribute 1,000 police officers and lead the force intended to end Haiti’s decades-long slide into anarchy. Last week Henry, stranded in Puerto Rico, said he would formally stand down once a seven-member transitional council was put together to govern the country. However, this has complicated matters further as Kenya now says its deployment is on hold because it requires a sitting government with which it can cooperate.

For now, the population must try and cope with living in a lawless country where gangsters control checkpoints and roam neighbourhoods as what is left of society breaks down, supplies run short, and hunger grows. Foreign embassies are closing and foreigners are leaving, with countries scrambling to organise airlifts because the land border with the Dominican Republic is closed.

The Haitian state appears to no longer really exist. Hundreds of police officers have resigned since violence began to grow last summer. The force of 10,000 was already grossly understaffed for a population of 11.7 million people. The UN estimates at least 26,000 are required.

The latest wave of violence and misery to hit Haiti accelerated after Colombian mercenaries murdered the 43rd president of the country, Jovenel Moise at his home in the capital in 2021. The following year huge clashes broke out between the biggest of dozens of gangs and since then there has been a steady spiral downwards. However, perhaps Haiti was always doomed to failure after being trapped into permanent poverty by France shortly after it came into being.

The original inhabitants of the western part of what became known as the island of Hispaniola were the Taino and Arawaken peoples and it is thought the word Haiti is from their language and means “Land of the Mountains”. Most were wiped out within a few decades of Christopher Columbus landing there in 1492. It became an important Spanish colony and by the 1700s was a major exporter of cotton and raw sugar. It was also a huge part of the Atlantic slave trade, and most Haitians are descendants of slaves.

By 1791 the French oversaw the territory, but a 15-year uprising forced them to leave and in 1804 independence was declared. In 1825 France finally agreed to accept Haitian independence but on its own extortionate terms. Charles X decreed that Haiti must pay France 150 million francs in compensation to French colonists and slave owners. The offer was made via 14 warships armed with 500 cannons anchored off the coast of Haiti.

This sum was ten times Haiti’s annual budget and to no one’s surprise the country soon defaulted on payments. The amount was reduced but France insisted Haiti take out crushing loans to pay the balance. Scholars believe this independence debt, which was not paid off until 1947, significantly impacted Haiti’s ability to fund its education and public infrastructure. The effects are still felt today. As late as 1914, 80 per cent of the government’s budget was being used to pay France.

Instability plagued the country throughout the 1800s and continued into the 1900s. Between 1911 and 1915 there were 6 different presidents. None left office by choice, some left in a box. By this time Haiti was massively in debt to the USA which responded to pressure from banks by occupying the country between 1915 to 1943. The 1950s saw the rise to power of Francois Duvalier (“Papa Doc”) who used the paramilitary police known as the Tonton Macoutes to underpin the dictatorship. After his death in 1971 he was succeeded by his son Jean Claude (“Baby Doc”) until his overthrow in 1986.

Those who followed may not have been as violent as the Duvaliers, but most were equally corrupt. In that environment little progress was made and by 2004 a peacekeeping mission was required to restore order. In 2010 the country received a devasting blow in the shape of a massive earthquake. Tens of thousands of people died, Port-au-Prince was effectively levelled, and a million people made homeless.

In 2022, as gang warfare spread, Prime Minister Henry requested the deployment of foreign forces. In October last year the UN Security Council approved the measure with Kenya, Benin, Chad, Bangladesh and other countries offering personnel.

The potential arrival of these forces may be one of the reasons for the recent escalation of violence. Two gang coalitions have signed a non-aggression pact and are busy carving out as much territory as they can to increase their extortion rackets.

Time may be on their side. The Kenyan delay does not encourage the others to go in and even if they did, they might have problems getting there, especially if the airport is attacked again. Their main task is not to destroy the 200 or so gangs, but to take control of the key routes into Port-au-Prince and restore a modicum of stability. It’s a big ask. They would be operating in an unfamiliar urban environment, against opposition who are not in uniform, and who speak a different language to most of the foreign forces.

If the Kenyans do show up many of them will probably be from the elite General Service Unit (GSU) which has experience of urban combat. However, it is a political risk for Kenyan President William Ruto. There is little public support for the deployment among the Kenyan public and high casualties among the GSU would quickly turn into accusations that Ruto was using them to further his own ambition.

Ruto sees Kenya as the leading power in East Africa and one which should play a role in the region and beyond. He has sought to negotiate a ceasefire in the Sudan civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces and is trying to broker a maritime deal between Somalia and Somaliland. He would also like to curry favour with the USA which is grateful that someone else is considering intervening in Haiti as it does not want to return. The commander of U.S. Southern Command, Gen. Laura Richardson, has said the United States “wouldn’t discount” deploying troops as part of a multinational effort but the Americans prefer to take a back seat role such as using Guantanamo Bay to hold Haitian refugees if the situation deteriorates even further. 

The road to relative stability may lie through some very uncomfortable compromises. To be a member of the proposed seven-member transitional council you must agree to foreign intervention. Given that if the foreigners do intervene, the gang members may shoot them, the council members will need to get them on side. And that will take “inducements”.

Many of the major gangs have strong political links with politicians. The best-known gang leader, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, is a former police officer from an elite unit who sees his new role as political. He led calls for prime minister Henry to resign or, he said, the country was ”heading straight for a civil war.”

So, Mr Cherizier and the others terrorising the public will need sweeteners. If they don’t get them, they won’t just shoot the foreigners, they’ll shoot the council members. It’s said the state is becoming less relevant in the modern world. Most Haitians would like it to be more relevant.

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