February 7, 2023
Discussions about an intervention in Haiti is becoming louder and louder. If there ever was a failed state, it is Haiti.
For starters, they don’t have any elected members of parliament now as all seats have been made vacant as the last 10 members of parliament left office in mid-January.
The de-facto leader, Ariel Henry, was never elected to the office of President and just holds power because there is no one left. The background to Henry was that he was left waiting to be ratified as Prime Minister by the former President, Jovenel Moise, but he was assassinated before he made Henry’s position official, which left the situation confusing to say the very least.
The political conundrum is just the beginning of it. In case you were living under a rock, Haiti is like a war zone now in the capital of Port Au-Prince as gangs have overrun the city and have engaged in intense warfare against one another with the ordinary citizens under siege.
One such leader of these gangs, a former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, has gone on record as blaming the collapse of Haiti on the political elites who have the poor people living in substandard squalor. He may have a point, but violence is never the option and the gangs are clearly making the situation worse.
Countries that have Embassies in Haiti have begun pulling their staff members out of the country amid the escalating violence. Police officers are being killed by the dozens, there is no internal security in the country.
If this has not been the last straw, then I don’t know what will be the last straw? Maybe the US needs to send troops and an administrator in until Haiti has a general election and sorts out its leadership? The US has done it before and now would be a great time to come in seriously and sort this situation out.
The last time the US came in was to secure former President Bertrand Aristide in the early 1990’s, which was short lived because they underestimated the fragmentation of the Haitian society. But at this time most Haitians would embrace anything that saves them from the hell-hole they are living on a daily basis now in Haiti.
NO! One solution would be the Blue Helmets (UN), but without the direct intervention of the US, because there is always the stigma of US interventionism (invasion, occupation, interference, imperialism).
The Blue Helmets (ARMY) without US forces. If your desire for (the US) is to collaborate in stabilization, put the dollars $$$, but not troops (soldiers), or officers of the United States Armed Forces. Cooperation has to be moral, spiritual and economic, only and exclusively. God and charitable souls, listen to this proposition, God save Haiti.
Raúl Ignacio José Arana Irías. Pseudonym: Peter Parker.
Poeta latinoamericano y caribeño.