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- It's quite frequently. I know it's a hell on Earth, but it's pretty rare to woman to let their family behind!
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International Haiti has collapsed into Cannibalism. Nayib Bukele says he can fix it
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- It's quite frequently. I know it's a hell on Earth, but it's pretty rare to woman to let their family behind!
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Haiti is preparing itself for new leadership. Gangs want a seat at the table
BY DÁNICA COTO AND EVENS SANON
Updated 4:39 PM BRT, March 12, 2024
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Politicians across Haiti are scrambling for power after Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced Tuesday that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created.
But elbowing their way into the race are powerful gangs that control 80% of Haiti’s capital and demand a say in the future of the troubled country under siege.
No one mentioned the armed groups as Caribbean leaders congratulated themselves late Monday for setting Haiti on a new political path, and experts warned that nothing will change unless gangs become part of the conversation.
“Even if you have a different kind of government, the reality is that you need to talk to the gangs,” said Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, noting that gangs largely control the capital. “If they have that supremacy, and there is no countervailing force, it’s no longer a question if you want them at the table. They may just take the table.”
Gangs have deep ties to Haiti’s political and economic elite, but they have become more independent, financing their operations with kidnapping ransoms to buy smuggled weapons, including belt-fed machine guns and .50-caliber sniper rifles that allow them to overpower underfunded police.
More than 200 gangs are estimated to operate around Haiti, mostly in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. More than 20 of them are based in the capital and rally around two main coalitions: G9 Family and Allies led by Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer known as “Barbecue”; and G-Pep, led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, who is allied with Johnson André, leader of the 5 Seconds gang and known as “Izo.”
“Gangs have become stronger, and they have the upper hand in terms of security,” said Renata Segura of the International Crisis Group. “This transition is not influencing the day-to-day security of Haiti. We are very concerned.”
Shortly before Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would resign and Caribbean officials announced the creation of a transitional council, Chérizier held an impromptu news conference and rejected any solution led and supported by the international community.
“It’s the Haitian people who know what they’re going through. It’s the Haitian people who are going to take destiny into their own hands. Haitian people will choose who will govern them,” Chérizier said.
As the upheaval continues, Henry has been unable to enter Haiti because the violence forced the closure of its airports. He arrived a week ago in Puerto Rico, where he announced his resignation in a recorded statement.
“The government that I’m running cannot remain insensitive in front of this situation. There is no sacrifice that is too big for our country,” Henry said Tuesday. “The government I’m running will remove itself immediately after the installation of the council.”
Chérizier has yet to react to the looming resignation, which he has long sought as he claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on critical government targets that began Feb. 29 while the prime minister was in Kenya pushing for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force to help fight gangs.
In recent weeks, gangs have torched police stations, forced the closure of Haiti’s two international airports and stormed the country’s two biggest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.
Scores of people have been killed, and the U.N. says more than 15,000 Haitians have been left homeless by the recent attacks.
It’s unclear whether Chérizier, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader, and other armed groups will accept the plan to create a transitional council.
The council will be responsible for appointing an interim prime minister, and the new leader will work with the council to select a council of ministers.
It would have seven voting members and two nonvoting ones. Those with votes include the Pitit Desalin party, run by former senator and presidential candidate Moïse Jean-Charles, who is now an ally of Guy Philippe, a former rebel leader who led a successful 2004 coup and was recently released from a United States prison after pleading guilty to money laundering.
Also with a vote is the EDE party of former Prime Minister Charles Joseph; the Fanmi Lavalas party; the coalition led by Henry; the Montana Accord group; and members of the private sector.
“The process that led to this presidential council … is deeply flawed and is going to make that process more difficult,” said Jake Johnston, a research associate at the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research. “Announcing a new foreign-backed government will be an uphill battle to try and earn any legitimacy in Haiti.”
Critics of the prime minister noted that he was appointed, not elected, to his position with the backing of the international community shortly after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
While Chérizier and other gang leaders have long demanded that Henry resign, Johnston said it’s unclear if they seek power for themselves or for someone else, such as former rebel leader Guy Philippe, which he believes is the case.
Segura said the role that Philippe and Jean-Charles will play in upcoming days is critical.
Philippe “is one of the few politicians who has an open channel with gangs at this moment,” she said, adding that it’s likely negotiations with them are ongoing. “He has a foot in both worlds.”
Gang violence has eased in recent days as public transportation resumed and some banks reopened, although schools and gas stations remain closed. A growing number of Haitians are returning to their daily routines, but food and water remain scarce in some areas.
Jonas Jean-Pierre, a 40-year-old high school social science teacher who was withdrawing money from a bank, said he doubts that Haiti’s current course will change.
“Knowing how our politicians in this country can never put their heads together, Ariel could be in office for another year,” he said of the prime minister.
Jean-Pierre also said he was bothered by Henry’s brief speech in which he announced his upcoming resignation.
“This is not the first time a prime minister left through the back door without saying ‘excuse me’ to the Haitian people,” he said.
Even if a multinational foreign force is deployed in Haiti at some point, that offers no guarantee of resolving the crisis, Jean-Pierre added.
Johnston agreed.
“You can’t stop the proliferation and activity of armed groups through force alone,” he said. “If you draw this hard line and rely solely on external forces to try and sort of kill the problem away, you’re not actually disrupting the root causes that generate that violence and these dynamics.”
https://apnews.com/article/haiti-he...ter-violence-28acaecc1d80d993c99fe43a5e1e1f7f
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Bitch please. The Haitian government put off paying those loans forever. Then the US occupied Haiti, took control of its finances, and helped Haiti pay off the remaining debt in 20 years. The Haitians were scamming the french, and once the US took over the loans from the french in 1922 they weren't having it. That the Duvaliers went back to pulling the same loan scams right after the original loans were paid should tell you everything you need to know about the economic practices of that country.
If you massively mismanage your economy, your revenues will not be very good. That the economy was mismanaged to the point that Haiti earned less money than it owed, is not an indictment of the loans. Haiti was making annual revenues in excess of the total indemnity prior to independence. The french most likely expected the haitians to be able to pay off their debts within a couple of years. In fact Haiti could probably have solved it right away by simply selling off some of their land and assets. Which, of course, was made illegal instead.
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If you want a deepdive video about how & why Haiti is literally the worst area on this side of the planet, this is it -
It was uploaded 2 months ago, and its non-partisan & objective of its past history and current day.
It was uploaded 2 months ago, and its non-partisan & objective of its past history and current day.
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- Do you think France should pay them, since they're have great guilty in it?
I qwas thinking yes, they should get paid. But to who? And i honestly dont think they would make good use of the moneyu!
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Should they get paid? Yes. To whom? The government of Haiti...if they ever settle on one. Probably the safest way to get paid back would be in infrastructure, instead of cash. So, France builds a better road system. Upgrades the airport and railway system. The capital investment that the money could have paid for had they kept the money.
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I think you're reading different history than I am.
Haiti started paying off the debt in 1825. And they didn't mismanage their economy. The debt payments made it impossible to invest in their economy. It's like me taking your paycheck every week and then claiming that you're mismanaging your household finances. And then there is the central bank portion of the conversation.
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- I really liked that idea!
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I think you're reading different history than I am.
Haiti started paying off the debt in 1825. And they didn't mismanage their economy. The debt payments made it impossible to invest in their economy. It's like me taking your paycheck every week and then claiming that you're mismanaging your household finances. And then there is the central bank portion of the conversation.
I got like three paragraphs into that Planet Money article before I started finding egregious errors. Haiti was never economically isolated by the US. USA was Haiti's main trading partner throughout the 19th century. Nor was it economically isolated by France. Nor were any other countries barred from dealing with Haiti by USA or France. Germany made a lot of business in Haiti prior to WW1, to the point were USA became worried about German influence so close to its shores.
I don't know what the heck "Equal Justice Initiative" is, but it doesn't sound like a credible source. And France24 can f*ck off with it's post-colonial popcorn theory of economics.
In short: Get better sources.
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It's a nice idea in theory, but the current logistics of it...yikes.
You'd essentially have to have a foreign military (probably a UN coalition--which would look better anyway than just a lone nation's military) put the island on very extended martial law in order to get that infrastructure built. The gangs are woven so much into what's left of their society, it's tough to imagine any sort of actual functioning domestic government there. So you'd basically have a foreign military coalition running the country for a pretty long time while they tried to rebuild some semblance of their own governing body.
Of course it's better than what they have now, but does the world have the stomach and motivation to have a group of foreign troops take over an autonomous nation (albeit one in disarray) "for its own good"?
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Oh man, the Democrat Larping is a sight to behold
- You know what i find more pathetic?
The fact they're exploring this as some moral signaling. I dont agree what Trump as a president, said about Haiti. But sadly it's the truth. A bunch of delusional celebrities arent gonna change that.
I bet they said all the profits made with the sold T-shirts will go to Haiti
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Maybe Wyclef got a piece of the proceeds? It's even sadder that the blind army of the left never stops their insanity and blind hate even at the expense of dire situations. Rather than larp around jumping on terrorist groups like BLM, ANTIFA and Free Palestine folks they could take a step back and educate themselves... on anything
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This is the PG version as well.
Drew Binsky makes family friendly travel videos highlighting the kindness and generosity of the people in the countries he visits.
He was able to make North Korea (which he said he'll never go back to) look 100x better then Haiti.
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we all have a 100% chance of dying.
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yes but they don't get the opportunity to die highly indebted, in some hospice bed, ignored by family, and beaten by the migrants hired as help.
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Someone already beat you to that oh so clever joke
Yeah much better to die as a slave of cholera after being worked half to death first.
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Kenya’s government puts deployment of police to Haiti on hold after chaos grips the Caribbean nation
BY TOM ODULA
Updated 4:55 PM BRT, March 12, 2024
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya is halting plans to deploy at least 1,000 police officers to Haiti following the unprecedented violence that erupted in the Caribbean nation and the announcement by its Prime Minister Ariel Henry that he would resign once a presidential council is created, a Kenyan official said Tuesday.
Kenya had agreed last October to lead a U.N.-authorized international police force to Haiti, but the country’s top court in January ruled this was unconstitutional, in part because of a lack of reciprocal agreements on such deployments between the two countries.
Kenya’s President William Ruto said that he and Henry had witnessed the signing of the reciprocal agreements between Kenya and Haiti on March 1, clearing the path for the deployment.
Under the plan, the U.N.-backed multi-national police led by Kenyan officers was to help quell gang violence that has long plagued Haiti. But violence escalated sharply since Feb. 29, with gunmen burning police stations, closing the main international airports and raiding the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.
Scores have been killed, and more than 15,000 are homeless after fleeing neighborhoods raided by gangs. Food and water are dwindling and the main port in the capital of Port-au-Prince remains closed, stranding dozens of containers with critical supplies.
After returning from a trip to Kenya where he had gone to salvage plans for the African country’s deployment, Henry has been locked out of his own country and has remained in Puerto Rico since last week.
“It is true the planned deployment of police officers has been put on hold,” Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Koriri Sing’oei said Tuesday.
“There has been a fundamental change in circumstances in Haiti as a result of the complete breakdown of law and order,” Sing’oei added.
Henry’s announcement Tuesday that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created indicated he was bowing to international pressure to make way for new leadership in the country overwhelmed by violent gangs.
Henry spoke after Caribbean leaders and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Jamaica to discuss a solution to Haiti’s spiraling crisis.
“The government I’m running will remove itself immediately after the installation of the council,” Henry said in a recorded statement.
Sing’oei said that without a clear administration in place in Haiti, there is no anchor for an international police force. Therefore, the Kenyan government will await the installation of a new authority in Haiti, before making further decisions on its deployment.
On Monday, Kenyan Interior Minister Kindiki Kithure said their officers selected to go to Haiti were ready and awaiting deployment after the top court’s requirement’s on bilateral agreements were met.
Critics of Henry, who was sworn in as prime minister nearly two weeks after the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, say he was never elected by the people or Parliament, which remains nonexistent after the terms of the last remaining senators expired in January 2023.
That has also left Haiti without a single elected official.
https://apnews.com/article/kenya-haiti-un-police-gang-violence-542869c4b67e02dbba97bd8f6235ae75
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so we can blame the French for this? sweet!
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*With a nice Chianti
And also mass incarceration
And also mass incarceration
