“Hell for Everyone”: The Unraveling of Haiti
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Haiti has “become hell for everyone,” remarked Fritz Alphonse Jean, the leader of Haiti’s transitional presidential council. The Caribbean nation of 11.6 million is currently at the junction of multiple, deeply intertwined crises: Violent gangs control over 80% of Port-Au-Prince; protests against deteriorating security conditions have erupted; and U.S.A.I.D. has been dismantled. All of this is unfolding amid an already volatile geopolitical climate.
The aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 marked a tipping point for Haiti’s worsening instability. Since then, gang violence has surged to unprecedented levels both within and beyond Port-au-Prince, manifesting in brazen raids on police stations, prison breaks, hospital attacks, and more recently, direct assaults on the press. Displacement has skyrocketed, affecting over 1 million people, and critical infrastructure like bridges, along with essential aid such as food and medicine, have been seized and weaponized by armed groups.
The media landscape is also collapsing under pressure from gangs. The “PRESS” vest, once a shield, so to speak, is now a target. Journalists have been shot, had their equipment stolen, and some media outlets have even closed; some publications have shifted to entirely digital reporting. Journalists now face a fork in the road: acquiesce to gang demands and continue reporting, or maintain journalistic integrity and face violence (or even death) for doing so. The former has now caused public distrust in the media, as the public views journalists as an instrument of the gangs. The latter leaves the press in a highly precarious and lethal position. As a result, Haiti is now one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists, joining Russia, Cuba, Zimbabwe, and Iraq.
The state is failing and promises are left empty. No elected government official has held office since 2021, and the Transitional Presidential Council, formed in the wake of Moïse’s death, is rife with internal divisions. Meanwhile, international aid and peacekeeping forces are struggling. Gangs control access to critical supplies, and the U.N.-approved peacekeeping mission is not meeting its objectives. The Multinational Security Support initiative is funded by the U.S., and security forces from other countries like Kenya, Chad, and Bangladesh are to work on the ground. So far, fewer than 800 of the expected 2,500 security forces have arrived, signaling weak international support. Haitians, however, are skeptical of international peacekeepers, remembering past tragedies, like the cholera outbreak from a poorly-managed, U.N. peacekeeping force from Nepal. Further compounding the crisis is the erosion of U.S. support. Under President Trump, institutions like USAID and the U.S. Institute of Peace were significantly weakened, and aid commitments have dwindled.
Haiti’s current crisis is not merely gang violence, rather it’s a nation buckling under compounded pressure. International aid is limited in both reach and credibility. Gangs rule the streets and control key public services, and the press is under attack. These struggles also unfold as the world grasps the economic spillovers of the Russia-Ukraine War, political divides from the Israel-Gaza War, and drastic changes to the global economy under President Trump. The international response to Haiti says as much about global priorities as it does about Haiti itself.