Few things in life that are guaranteed in Haiti, but anarchy could be one. The anarchy of the past two weeks has reached unprecedented heights in a nation that has seen coups, transitional administrations, assassinations, and gang warfare over the years.
There hasn’t been any leadership throughout that time, there’s been no law and order in the capital, and the amount of humanitarian help has been decreasing. Effectively, the nation is now isolated from the wider world.
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Recently, the gangs in Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital, carried on their rampage. Just as workmen were starting to repair damage from earlier attacks, they opened fire at the airport.
The national police director’s home was also plundered by criminals, according to local reports, and was later set on fire.
Just a few days after Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry decided to step down as part of an agreement mediated by regional and international governments to establish a transitional council that will ultimately choose a new transitional prime minister, there has been violence.
The idea has been met with opposition from certain well-known gang leaders who claim it does not reflect the desire of the Haitian people. To reject the idea, the gangs have vowed to use greater violence.
Former senator and police commander Guy Philippe was a key figure in the coup that overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991. He entered a guilty plea to drug-related money laundering in the US, and after his deportation back to Haiti a few months ago, he began spearheading large-scale anti-government demonstrations.
According to him, the issue with the existing political transition agreement is that it gives seven conventional politicians the power to decide how Haiti will develop going ahead.
“They were the same guys who were working with Ariel Henry for three years—the same name, the same organization, with no popular support. I don’t know why the international community wants to take that path,” Philippe noted.
The Guyana president said no gangs had been contacted before the agreement was disclosed to the community. However, he was informed and added in passing, “that we know of.” This, according to Philippe, touched on what he refers to as an open secret: conventional politicians in Haiti are the ones who, in his opinion, are responsible for the gangs’ first formation. According to him, they both financed and armed them.
“The biggest gang in Haiti is the state of Haiti itself. It’s the president, the prime minister, the ministers. They are the worst gangs in Haiti,” Philippe stated.
A press crew traveled to Cap-Haïtien, the second-largest city in Haiti, on the afternoon of the incident, after crossing the border from the Dominican Republic. What we’ve observed is typical in many respects. People are out shopping for groceries, and restaurants are open. There were dancing, music, and bars here at Cap-Haïtien, which was formerly a major tourist destination.
However, it doesn’t take long to see warning indications that something is off. The villages along this northern coast are completely dark, and fuel is running low. Ever since President Jovenel Moïse was killed in 2021, they have not had reliable electricity.
And as we approached the area by car, we came across a sizable gathering of Haitians who were preparing to attempt to flee and attempt to enter the Dominican Republic over the border.
At least in these sections of Haiti, the majority of those who spoke with the news crew expressed their happiness at the cessation of gun violence. They claim to have heard ceaseless gunshots in the evening before Prime Minister Henry made his resignation commitment. And now a few universities and schools are back in operation.
But they also convey a great deal of hopelessness. Haitians experience abandonment. They believe that nobody has been paying attention since their president was assassinated. They also refer to the politicians in their nation, not only the global world.
According to a man who used to be a tour guide but is currently just looking for any job to put food on his table, there is more going on in Haiti than just criminal gangs rising up. He claims that Haitians are waking up because they have endured too much neglect and hardship and are tired of it.
Frismer Fidele, a Haitian man who was watching busloads of his fellow citizens being deported back to Haiti over a fence at the border before they crossed into Haiti. The mass deportation campaign of the Dominican Republic has continued despite the recent spike in violence in Haiti.
Fidele claimed that the Haitian government has had limited knowledge of the living conditions of the impoverished for a long time “All we want is new leadership, so we can have elections, so we can be heard,” he said.
Rafael Maqueson, another Haitian, waits in the shade close here between two large cargo containers for work in the Dominican Republic. Despite being 23, he appears considerably younger.
He claims that he has been attempting to establish a life ever since graduating from high school. However, it’s challenging because it appears that the only work, he can acquire is moving travelers’ bags from one border to the next. He used to make enough money to cover his housing expenses. It’s just enough to eat these days.
