In Haiti, the government is increasingly losing power. After several police killings, officers rioted and attacked Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The United Nations are considering an intervention in the crisis country.
Burning car tires – a barricade in the capital Port-au-Prince
Haiti has been stuck in a permanent political and humanitarian crisis for years. Plainclothes police have now attacked the home of interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry while he was returning from the Summit of Latin American States (CELAC). Later, demonstrators, most of whom also pretended to be police officers, stormed the airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to receive the prime minister there.
The riot is seen as a reaction to an accumulation of police killings: According to the Haitian police union, suspected gang members have killed 15 police officers in the past two weeks alone. The angry officials accuse the head of government of not helping them; some even speculate that he is in league with the gangs. According to the Haitian human rights organization RNDDH, 78 security officers have been killed since Henry took over the government.
Desolate political situation
Ariel Henry was appointed the new Prime Minister by then-President Jovenel Moise in mid-2021. However, just two days later, before Henry was sworn in, Moise was murdered. There is no parliament that could constitutionally confirm Henry in office because Haitians have not elected one since 2015.
The November 2021 general and presidential elections did not take place because Henry dissolved the election committee over allegations of bias. Since then it has remained with election announcements. That is why Henry is considered by many Haitians to be an illegitimate ruler. Not a few suspect foreign machinations behind his rise to power, as well as behind the assassination of President Moise.
Interim Many Haitians see Prime Minister Ariel Henry as corrupt and a lackey of foreign actors
Even before the president was assassinated, the political situation in Haiti was considered desolate. Years ago, the government effectively lost control of parts of the country to criminals. In the capital, Port-au-Prince, their gangs run more than half of the neighborhoods. In view of the catastrophic security situation, observers also believe that democratic elections are currently hardly feasible.
Will foreign troops intervene in Haiti?
In October 2022, Prime Minister Henry asked the United Nations (UN) and friendly countries to send troops to fight the gangs to deal with the situation. Just earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the urgency of sending armed forces to the Caribbean country to protect the population and secure avenues for humanitarian aid. But nobody, it seems, wants to take on this: “The risks are high, the chances of success are dubious,” says Judith Wareh from the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik.
Even if it were possible to push back the gangs and secure critical infrastructure such as the port and important access roads, that would not be a permanent solution: “Nobody knows how the country could be left again if there was no progress in the political process .”
Internal resistance to external intrusions
In addition, foreign troops would probably have to contend with considerable resistance – not only from the gangs, the International Crisis Group notes. The political opposition and large parts of the Haitian population reject any intervention. Experiences with UN operations are too bad. Blue helmets of the MINUSTAH (2004 to 2017) acted brutally against members of the opposition, raped locals and participated in the sexual exploitation of minors. After the devastating earthquake in 2010, they brought in cholera; more than half a million people fell ill, up to 10,000 died from the epidemic.
One blue helmet – of many not welcome in Haiti
The political UN mission BINUH, which has been in the country since 2019, also suffers from this distrust. “Many people – also in other countries where the UN operates – do not necessarily distinguish between peace missions, others UN presence and other missions, which are covered by the UN Security Council,” explains political scientist Supplyh.
Is Haiti a plaything for foreign powers?
Add to this the narrative of racist US imperialism, rife in Latin America and also rallying Haitians against foreign interventions that have any connection with the world power in the North. Quite a few in Haiti assume that the assassination of President Moise was controlled or even carried out by foreign secret services.
“These massive reservations are certainly also a reason for the reluctance in countries that – such as Canada – could be considered for a mission in Haiti,” says Storageh. The government in Ottawa provided the country with aid worth 98 million US dollars (approx. 90 million euros) last year alone – among other things to strengthen security forces and the judiciary. In mid-January, it supplied the Haitian police with armored vehicles to use in their fight against the gangs.
Do criminal gangs control Haitian politics?
The Haitian gangs carry out activities typical of gang crime: robbery, racketeering, drug trafficking, etc. In doing so, they fight for supremacy in relatively limited territories. According to a UN report, they also bully the population there with sexualised violence in order to spread terror.
However, many of the countless gangs are now organized into two large coalitions. Clashes last summer killed around 500 people, most of them civilians. The leader of the “G9” gang alliance, Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, is on the sanctions lists of the UN and various member states.
At the end of 2022, the “G9” alliance triggered a fuel crisis by blocking a fuel depot for almost two months
Now it seems that with its expansion and stronger organization, not only the Violence is increasing, but their influence is also growing: “The gangs have always been used politically – for example to manipulate elections or to eliminate political opponents,” explains researcher Storageh. “The question now is whether, with increasing power, they will break away from their clients and protégés in politics, even if they probably don't yet have their own political agenda in the narrower sense.”
That the gangs always continue to gain access is also due to the poverty in the country. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. The aid organization International Rescue Committee ranks the humanitarian crisis there among the ten worst in the world.