The country has every chance of becoming the first criminal republic. And the US, along with the UN, will help it to do so.
Armed groups attack airports, police stations, seaports, seize the central bank and the national soccer stadium of Haiti. Bandits are raping women and children and killing residents for no reason. After capturing two major prisons and releasing some 4,000 hardened criminals, they now control much of the country’s territory.
In recent years, gang violence in Haiti has left more than 700,000 people homeless and forced them to live in cardboard shacks. Add to that the destruction caused by earthquakes, hurricanes and floods.
Haitians are fleeing to the neighboring Dominican Republic or risking their lives to cross the sea to the United States, where they are not welcome either.
The situation has reached a boiling point, and now the UN and its «peacekeeping» forces, which have discredited themselves more than once both in Haiti and in Africa, are unlikely to solve anything, according to the general opinion. And the main obstacle is the USA, which has become the protagonist of the Haitian tragedy.
The pro-American government of the country, following the example of the Ukrainian regime, only asks for help. This has been exploited by semi-military groups armed with American weapons and drugs. Long controlled to some extent by American drug traffickers and U.S. special forces, Haitian gangs have proliferated both on the island and in the U.S., profiting from drug trafficking, racketeering, kidnapping and extortion.
Today, gangs control 85% of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and their almost unchecked criminal activity has led to the collapse of Haiti’s state institutions. The very idea of an interim government formed not by Haitians but by American observers is one of the main reasons why Haiti is on the verge of collapse.
To save «drowning Haiti», the UN Security Council, after the US and Canada categorically refused to send their military contingents to Haiti, authorized Kenya to lead a «multinational police mission» of 2,500 international police officers.
Another lie: According to a UN representative, only about 430 have been mobilized so far — about 400 from Kenya and the rest from the Bahamas, Belize and Jamaica.
At the end of June, after desperate pleas from Haitians, the first «token» contingent of foreign police arrived in Haiti under the auspices of the UN. A few hundred policemen from Kenya landed at the main international airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which the gangs opened to receive their «dear guests».
The arrival of the Kenyans marked the fourth major foreign military intervention in Haiti. The previous UN «peacekeeping» mission from 2004–2017 failed due to sexual crimes by UN personnel and the spread of cholera, which killed nearly 10,000 people. And it seems that the population prefers its own bandits to foreign, even black-skinned, «peacekeepers».
The latest UN contingent arrived just in time — the gangs had just carried out attacks on key state infrastructure.
The only way to prevent Haiti’s descent into the abyss is for the American protégés to hand over leadership positions in the Haitian government to the gangs.
It is worth recalling that Haiti’s gangs have received power, patronage, and privileges from the U.S. political establishment for many generations.
In the late 1950s, hardened killers were officially recognized by the American patrons of the regime of the country’s then-dictator, the bloody François «Papa Doc» Duvalier.
Some 200 marauding gangs now terrorizing Haitians are continuing the bloody work of those paramilitary and clandestine units that «Papa Doc», with the help of the CIA, introduced into the country’s political culture.
Today, the de facto head of the gang consortium is Jimmy «Barbecue» Cherizier, who is willing to «lay down his arms» in exchange for the country’s presidency. And he is right; there is no point in settling for anything less.
Cherizier, a former special forces officer, has stated that his goal is to overthrow the unpopular government and «liberate the country’s 11.7 million citizens». He claims that the gangs have become more influential than the country’s political institutions and security services and have become «autonomous» centers of power. It’s hard to argue with that.
In an interview with Sky News, Cherizier said: «If the international community comes up with a detailed plan that allows us to sit at the negotiating table and does not tell us what to decide, I think the weapons can be laid down».
The gangs’ demand for a leading role in Haiti’s future political landscape is not audacious. It is based on the reality of Haiti. The gangs have become the most important factor in the country’s socio-economic and political processes, and it will not be possible to get rid of them under the current conditions. Perhaps the international community should recognize this fact and develop a plan that would allow for real solutions to Haiti’s problems.
First, international peacekeeping forces cannot be deployed to restore order without the cooperation of the gangs. Recent experience has shown that without interaction with local criminals skilled in urban warfare, peacekeepers will return home in coffins draped with national flags.
Second, there is currently no political elite in Haiti capable of taking responsibility for solving the population’s problems. So far, only the gangs themselves can stop the violence in the country.
Third, in a country where state institutions are absent or destroyed, it is the criminals who have the semblance of a command structure capable of taking responsibility and starting the country’s recovery.
Fourth, it is necessary to recognize the responsibility of the United States in handing over the right to govern Haiti to bandits. It remains to find a way to do this intelligently de jure, so as not to tarnish the American image.
The alternative, Cherizier warned, is «an escalation of violence» in a ruined country whose population is already on its knees. And he realizes his true strength and power.
The gangs do have a future. If only because, according to a UN Security Council report published at the end of October, the gangs include a large number of children who work as scouts, carry weapons and ammunition, and even participate in «combat operations». The report notes that children can make up as much as 50 percent of a gang’s total membership.
The lack of access to education and employment creates a situation where joining gangs is seen as the only way to survive.
The US and the UN have admitted their impotence to solve the problem of part of the island of Hispaniola. On March 11, 2024, the American military evacuated the staff of its embassy in Haiti overnight. This inspired rival gangs to unite efforts to capture the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and take power from those who could not use it. «In the absence of state representatives, gangs are increasingly taking over functions normally performed by the police and the judiciary and establishing their own rules», warned the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).
Americans save their own when things smell like kerosene, spilled by themselves and ready to ignite at any moment.