The recent events in Haiti, with the prime minister Ariel Henry stepping down amidst a violent rebellion by gangs, evoke a strong feeling of familiar turmoil.
On Wednesday, a global suggestion for a temporary council to govern the nation seemed to be falling apart. However, the individuals vying for power are well-known individuals connected with political groups, partnerships, and the small group of wealthy business leaders who have played crucial roles in the ongoing crisis of political credibility in the country.
Haiti has experienced similar situations multiple times since the downfall of the François Duvalier dictatorship in 1986. This includes several coups, governments in transition (sometimes with military involvement), ineffective leaders, and politicians who have used criminal gangs for personal gain.
The leftwing president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former parish priest and anti-poverty champion, employed armed gangs known as “chimères” – ghosts – and established a template for political violence when conflict flared up.
Henry’s predecessor, Jovenel Moïse, who was assassinated by Colombian mercenaries in 2021, reportedly was allied with the G9 gang alliance, which in turn played a key role in Henry’s removal. Figures seen as potentially influential in the country’s next chapter are said to have their own gang links.
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It is highly probable that even if the gangs that forcibly removed Henry are not given a designated position at the negotiating table, the risk of violent acts will persist unless there is a significant reconsideration of political responsibility in Haiti.
One of the groups vying for power is the Platfòm Pitit Desalin party, headed by former senator and presidential hopeful Moïse Jean-Charles, who is close to Guy Philippe, a former policeman and coup leader with connections to politicians and the wealthy. Philippe played a key role in the 2004 revolt against Aristide and was recently freed from a stint in a US prison for admitting to money laundering.
Philippe posted a video on social media where he denounced a suggested interim council supported by the Caribbean regional alliance and the United States.
“The choice made by Caricom is not something we can control,” he stated. “It is up to the Haitian people to determine who will lead their country.”
Underpinning the succession of crises of governance is a more urgent issue: the fact that since US marines landed in Haiti in 1915 to start a 19-year occupation, Washington has played a key role in either anointing or sustaining the country’s leaders, who have mostly emerged from the same small elite.
Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington has been one of the critics of the recent talks for a transitional council. In a blog post, he stated, “Despite negotiations occurring for nearly a week, no information about the participants or discussions has been revealed, leaving most Haitians uninformed.”
Johnston stated that US and international backing for Henry was the main factor in exacerbating the situation. Instead of allowing a process led by Haitians to unfold, these same foreign forces have chosen a stability agreement that appears to cement an unmanageable situation, at least temporarily.
The United States and other countries have invested a lot of resources in supporting a military operation led by Kenya in order to bring stability to Haiti. However, with the recent resignation of Henry, the operation has been postponed. Kenyan president William Ruto declared on Wednesday that his country is still committed to the plan. However, past interventions have faced issues such as a UN mission from 2004 to 2017 that was marred by numerous accusations of sexual misconduct. Additionally, a UN camp’s sewage was linked to a cholera outbreak that resulted in the deaths of nearly 10,000 individuals.
Dr Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at the Chatham House thinktank, is among those who sees history being repeated. “We are seeing all the usual suspects,” he said, adding that “in moments of crisis the void is filled by the old guard of the ancient elite”.
Sabatini is sceptical too of the “diplomatic laziness” that in Haiti has tended to gravitate towards familiar political faces from a discredited political system – and the international community’s insistence that elections would magically produce a solution to Haiti’s chronic lack of political representation and accountability.
The talks in Jamaica that resulted in Henry stepping down were primarily focused on resolving the ongoing gang violence, but he warned that rushing elections could give more power to the gangs.
Sabatini stated that the urgent attempt to create a plan for the president’s departure and facilitate swift elections could potentially create an opportunity for gangs. He described Jimmy Chérizier, the leader of the G9 Family and Allies gang and responsible for the ongoing turmoil, as a skilled “political entrepreneur” due to the lack of social structures in the country that could bring about meaningful political change.
In large part, that is intimately bound up with the long-term failure of Haitian state institutions, and with the international donor community that has long bypassed them. With so many services provided either by NGOs or by the private sector, ordinary and impoverished Haitians have long been excluded as stakeholders in their own political system – a vacuum into which the gangs have interposed themselves.
During a spontaneous press conference on Monday, Chérizier emphasized that he viewed himself as an important individual in the decision-making process. He cautioned that it is ultimately up to the Haitian people to decide who will lead them.
Source: theguardian.com
