Haiti continues its slow descent into hell
For several weeks, Haiti has been sinking into chaos. The capital Port-au-Prince has almost entirely fallen into the hands of gangs. Without Parliament, without a president (assassinated in July 2021) and with an interim government which submitted its resignation under pressure in particular from the United States, the country is experiencing an anarchic situation. Diplomats and foreign nationals began leaving Haiti, along with tens of thousands of people, in search of a better life elsewhere. How did we get here ? What events led to the acute crisis that the country of 11.5 million inhabitants is currently experiencing? Response elements.
Celebration, on January 1, 2007, of Haitian Independence Day in Port-au-Prince. © Thony BELIZAIRE / AFP
By: Achim Lippold Follow
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A country affected by a “multidimensional” crisis
All Haitians learn this date at school: on January 1, 1804,
Haiti
, the richest French colony, decided to free itself from the chains of its master and declared independence. It is the birth of the first black republic in the world. Haiti pays dearly for this victory. For more than a century, the country must compensate France for choosing its own path. The Haitian debt, which amounts to the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of euros, has slowed down the young nation in its development, according to experts (RFI has devoted several programs to this subject, including a
debate
with the geographer Jean- Marie Théodat). Today, the poorest state in Latin America and the Caribbean, terrorized by gangs, is sinking into an unprecedented crisis. A multidimensional crisis: political, economic, social and humanitarian. Around 60% of the population suffers from malnutrition. The weakness of state institutions does not spare justice. The prisons are full of prisoners who, in the vast majority (nearly 80%), have never seen a judge. Those who can and who have the means try to leave this country where the health system is as precarious as that of education. Not to mention the natural disasters, earthquakes and hurricanes that ravage Haiti with worrying regularity. Added to this already very dark picture is daily violence caused by gangs who have rushed into the vacuum created by the State.
An institutional void
Questioning the causes of the chaos and the outbreak of violence that Haiti is experiencing requires us to examine the question of the institutional void. As economist Thomas Lalime writes in
Le Nouvelliste
, it is the total absence of solid political structures that has brought the country to the edge of the precipice. If the country has been experiencing chronic political instability for almost forty years, never in recent history has there been such an institutional vacuum combined with a total absence of counter-power.
From the Duvalier dictatorship to the assassination of Jovenel Moïse
From 1957 to 1986, Haitians lived under the Duvalier dictatorship. François Duvalier, known as “Papa Doc”, came to power in 1957 during rigged elections. In 1971, after his death, he was replaced by his son Jean-Claude Duvalier, alias “Baby Doc”. He was ousted from power in 1986 by a popular revolt. The army takes power. In 1991, it was the turn of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, democratically elected a year earlier, to be overthrown, this time by a coup d'état. He returned to power in 1994 with the help of the United States, which deployed a multinational military force in the country.
After the presidency of René Préval from 1996 to 2000, Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to power. In 2004, he was forced to leave again, this time under pressure from the United States, France, Canada and part of the army and a protest movement. Faced with an anarchic situation, the UN took control of the country until 2006, when René Préval was elected new president. Until today, he remains the only head of state who was able to complete his two mandates authorized by the Constitution.
No presidential election since 2016
In 2011, singer Michel Martelly was elected president. He ended his term in 2016 without a successor, because the second round of the 2015 presidential election had to be canceled due to violent demonstrations by the opposition who denounced fraud during the first round. Under Martelly, legislative power also began to crumble. The election of Parliament and the renewal of a third of the senators planned for 2014 is postponed. Martelly ended his presidency by governing by decree.
In the absence of an elected successor, an interim president is appointed, a former minister of Jean-Bertrand Aristide: Jocelerme Privert. He gave way to Jovenel Moïse who won the 2016 election, the last held in Haiti to date. It should be noted, however, that participation in the vote was very low. Only a little more than 20% of voters went to the polls. A weak legitimacy which will turn into growing unpopularity. Jovenel Moïse will be confronted, throughout his mandate, with major social demonstrations, as in
2019
for example, because of gasoline shortages.
Under the presidency of Jovenel Moïse, agricultural entrepreneur, nicknamed “the banana man”, the situation in the country deteriorated at all levels. First on the political level: no election will take place until the assassination of the president in July 2021. In 2020, Parliament ceases to function, due to lack of voting. And in January 2023, the mandate of the last ten senators still in office expires. After the violent death of Jovenel Moïse, an interim government was set up. It is headed by Prime Minister Ariel Henry. According to a political agreement of December 2022, he undertakes to resign on February 7, 2024 in order to organize new elections. But Ariel Henry decides to cling to power. Until gangs, who claim to act as “revolutionaries” on behalf of the Haitian people, took advantage of a trip abroad by the Prime Minister to attack strategic infrastructure; they finally forced him, under pressure in particular from the United States, to submit his resignation and accept a political transition.
In search of the origins of the crisis
Can we say exactly when the country shifted towards the chaos it knows today? The specialists are divided. For Laurent Giacobbi of the University of the Antilles, “
there were no classic signals. Neither the food shortage, nor the lack of fuel, nor the natural disasters, nor the political assassination of Jovenel Moïse constituted, on their own, a shift
.” The researcher notes the exceptional resilience of the population in the face of these dramatic events.
“
After the 2010 earthquake, there was real hope, Haitians in the diaspora invested in their country, they wanted to believe in it
,” remembers photographer Corentin Fohlen who has produced numerous reports in Haiti in recent years. . This hope faded under the presidency of Jovenel Moïse. “
With Moïse, the situation has actually deteriorated
,” notes Laurent Giacobbi. The president faces multiple protest movements such as the “country lock” in 2019, violently represses his opponents and provokes terror with the help of gangs. And he loses all credibility among the population after a large-scale corruption affair.
The PetroCaribe affair
In 2019, a report from the Court of Auditors produced the effect of a bomb: it revealed that, since 2008, the various governments have very poorly managed the hundreds of millions of dollars in aid offered by Venezuela. In 2005, President Hugo Chavez established a program, PetroCaribe, which offers financial aid to countries in the region in exchange for the importation of Venezuelan oil at preferential prices. The projects launched thanks to this program did not respect the basic principles of management of public funds, according to this audit by the Court of Auditors. The judges single out, among others, President
Jovenel Moïse
for having put in place a “
fund embezzlement scheme
” even before being elected. For the Haiti specialist,
Frédéric Thomas
, this corruption affair contributes to reinforcing the population's discontent with President Jovenel Moïse. “
If the deterioration of the socio-economic situation, already very precarious, is the breeding ground for the social mobilizations which are shaking Haiti
,” he writes, “
the PetroCaribe scandal is the catalyst. What particularly shocked the population
was the arrogance of this elite
who embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars. Sure of its impunity, this clique in power has continued to enrich itself, multiplying plans, strategies and promises.
»
If we are talking about a multidimensional crisis hitting the country, endemic corruption is part of it. The organization Transparency International placed the country in 172nd place out of 180 for the Corruption Perception Index.
A country under the influence of gangs
The weakness, or even absence, of state institutions can only benefit the gangs. Although their influence has increased greatly in recent years, their existence is not new. Since the 1950s, armed groups have been rampant in the country, supported or even led by successive governments. The “tontons macoutes” militia was already sowing terror on behalf of the dictators Duvalier father and son. They were replaced by the
“
chimeras
”,
armed supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A dark tradition therefore, which continues until today. According to a
September 2023
UN report ,
"
the influence of politicians and financial actors on gang activities is systemic in nature
." According to this report
,
“
Michel Martelly, who served as president from 2011 to 2016, used gangs to expand his influence in neighborhoods to advance his political agenda, contributing to a legacy of insecurity whose effects are still being felt
.”
Massacres committed with the complicity of the government
Under the presidency of Jovenel Moïse, the Haitian government took an authoritarian turn. As the Haitian Observatory of Crimes Against Humanity notes, "
the government's response to protests and growing opposition is to resort to increasingly aggressive tactics
." The NGO notes an increase in repression against the opposition and violence perpetrated against civil society. Certain armed groups then enjoy the protection of the government which, in return, uses them to serve its interests. The gangs are terrorizing the disadvantaged neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, neighborhoods that are mostly hostile to the president. In 2018, the government joined forces with armed groups to suppress a vast uprising against corruption and rising prices, particularly fuel prices. Faced with the street which continues to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse, the latter leaves his relatives to negotiate the launch of a joint operation between the police and the gangs, an operation which will result in the death of 71 people in a slum of Port au Prince and will go down in history as the Saline massacre, named after this district.
UN
experts
underline in a report "
the alleged involvement of certain state agents
.”
Other attacks organized by gangs with the complicity of the government will follow, in September 2019 in Bel-Air and in 2020 in Cité Soleil. More than 150 civilians are killed, many women raped. A key figure then emerges as the main “organizer” of this violence against the civilian population, a certain Jimmy Chérizier, alias “Barbecue”, today at the head of a coalition of gangs (his portrait can be read here
)
. These three massacres “
sanctioned by the State
”, according to the Haitian Observatory of Crimes Against Humanity, are well documented. For years, human rights organizations have been warning about links between armed groups and the government.
Political violence that takes place with complete impunity
A decisive factor in this spiral of violence: the impunity in which these criminal acts incited by the authorities occur. “
Known attackers remain at large, such as Jimmy Chérizier, who played a leading role in the repeated attacks. Furthermore, the government does not recognize the criminal responsibility of civil servants and police officers within its own ranks
,” writes the Haitian Observatory of Crimes Against Humanity. An impunity that goes all the way to the top of the state. The NGO notes that no official investigation into the role of the Haitian president in the attacks has been carried out even though there are indications that Jovenel Moïse himself approved them. This practice of impunity, which also applies to corruption cases such as the PetroCaribe scandal, is fundamental to understanding why Haitians do not trust the State. The criminals and their sponsors are not worried, which further increases their feeling of insecurity and extreme vulnerability.
When gangs turn against their benefactors
Like a spider, the gangs continue to weave their web over the capital. Impossible to escape their sons. The Haitian National Police (PNH) is too weak in men and weapons to contain their expansion in the neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. With weapons coming mainly from the United States, according to the National Human Rights Defense Network, criminal groups are terrorizing more and more Haitians, engaging in battles with rival gangs without worrying about the collateral victims of this war. The money comes in particular from drug trafficking, racketeering, kidnappings and even passage fees extorted in controlled territories. And all this, once again, with complete impunity.
Political scientist Robert Fatton, professor at the University of Virginia, confirms that all the ingredients of the crisis the country is currently going through were already perceptible before the violent death of President Moïse. The assassination “
precipitated events
”. Under the interim government of Ariel Henry, appointed by Jovenel Moïse just before his death, “
criminal groups acquired enormous autonomy, they became capable of arbitrating Haitian politics
”. Like Frankenstein, armed groups have freed themselves from their masters. And they brutally make it known. Like in September 2022, when gang leader Jimmy Chérizier blocked, with his men, the Varreux oil terminal which supplies the majority of petroleum products consumed in the country. The blockade lasts almost two months and the message is very clear: they can block the country whenever they want.
Armed groups are beginning to feel all-powerful. A few weeks before the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the leader of “G9 and family”, Jimmy Chérizier, asked the president to resign and the population to rise up against the government. He will also make the same request a few years later against Prime Minister Ariel Henry. But this time, successfully.
An abandoned population
Tolerated, supported by the State before imploding it, the gangs know that they have practically nothing to fear. For the population, this means that no one anymore protects them from the extreme brutality of armed groups. Consequence: according to the
International Organization for Migration
(IOM), in December 2023, “
more than 310,000 people were displaced within the country. More than half of the people currently displaced in the country were displaced in 2023, illustrating the constant worsening of the security and humanitarian situation, particularly in the capital Port-au-Prince. The large number of displaced children is particularly worrying
.” Faced with this tragedy, the government of Ariel Henry, supported tooth and nail by Western powers, remains immutable. Like the author of a Greek tragedy watching a performance of his own play at the theater. Ariel Henry's assessment is "
completely zero
", notes dryly the former Canadian ambassador to Haiti, Henri-Paul Normandin.
The growing insecurity in the country becomes the main argument of the interim government to postpone the electoral deadlines. But Haitians can no longer stand the inaction and broken promises of their government, which has lost all legitimacy in their eyes. Many people decide to leave the country. In 2023 alone, 112,000 people left for the United States, as part of a humanitarian program launched by President Joe Biden. Haiti is becoming a country abandoned by the international community which is struggling to agree on the sending of a multinational force, abandoned also by its government and ultimately by part of its population, its living forces. Many qualified people, doctors, lawyers, judges have decided to leave, which further reinforces the precariousness of such vital institutions as health or justice.
The new masters of the country
On September 18, 2023, an announcement came which proved, with hindsight, decisive for the course of events. The leader of the “G9 et famille” gang, former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, alias Barbecue, declares having united the capital's armed groups, traditionally divided, under a new banner called “Living together”. In his message, Jimmy Chérizier addresses the Prime Minister directly and threatens to chase him out by force of arms. Which was ultimately going to happen. The armed groups, after getting rid of those who supported them for years, now appear to be the new masters of the country. Their alliance allowed them to become political actors and to influence the course of events. “
Gangs have become the decisive force in Haiti
,” underlines political scientist Robert Fatton. Whoever the new government is, it must deal with them. But how ? And what can we negotiate with criminal groups? “
This is the Gordian knot of this conflict
,” explains Robert Fatton.
And this dilemma will have to be resolved before we can organize elections and bring peace to the country.
»
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