X Close

The West bears responsibility for Haiti chaos

Gang Leader Jimmy 'Barbecue' Cherizier with G-9 federation gang members in Port-au-Prince. Credit: Getty

March 9, 2024 - 8:00am

It has become insidiously normal to witness Haiti, among the most corrupt political basket cases in the world, veer from crisis to crisis amid coups, natural disasters, assassinations, gangsterism and failed governments. But the current crisis, which has been ongoing since 2021 when then-President Jovenel Moïse was killed by Colombian mercenaries (who gave the orders remains unknown), has reached new catastrophic levels this week, as the country seemingly hurtles towards civil war.

Where does one start? The government is effectively non-existent, as Haiti still has no elected officials. Millions are facing hunger. Cholera has surged. Fuel is scarce. There is no civic peace as armed gangs attached to demagogues and political movements practically rule the streets. Just a few days ago, gangs seized the airport and attacked several prisons, instigating a huge jailbreak and leading to a state of emergency being declared.

The head honcho of the gang alliance G9, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, declared that if current Prime Minister Ariel Henry didn’t resign and “if the international community continues to support him, we’ll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide.”

Why Haiti has been a Hobbesian basket case for a long time is a very intricate question, one influenced by multiple historical and social factors weaved together to create a perfect storm.

Firstly, right after its independence in 1804, the country had to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to its former colonial master France. In return, it received diplomatic recognition to compensate for the slave owner’s loss of “property” — which it only stopped paying in 1947 — that severely deformed its economic development by encumbering the use of domestic funds to kickstart development projects. Secondly, like many postcolonial states, Haiti has been cursed with an oligarchic ruling elite which plunders the country for its own gain and dictatorially rules over an incredibly pauperised majority.

What’s more, it has been a victim of frequent interventions. The United States has treated Haiti like a semi-colony and supported many of the various regimes that have ruined the country, most notoriously that of Papa Doc Duvalier. The UN’s 2004 occupation was ostensibly geared towards “stabilisation”, yet it created the perfect environment for NGOs and international donors to go wild, thus creating a situation in which Haiti is barely sustained by external donations, rather than by domestic growth.

This process went into overdrive after the 2010 earthquake shattered the already exiguous state capacity and led to even more aid money flooding in, making Haiti less a sovereign state and more a dependency of the “international community”.

This void provides fertile soil for the reign of gangsterism the nation now endures. Politicians and oligarchs use gangs to intimidate opposition, impose their authority on communities, and extort money and votes. Their firepower has been bolstered by weaponry mainly smuggled in from the United States, often making them more powerful than the Haitian state’s security forces. Gang warfare has become the means of doing politics, which will only be to the detriment of the Haitian people.

Haiti — or Saint Domingue, as it was known back then — was in 1804 the site of surely one of the greatest moments in human history. For the first time ever, an enslaved people organised a revolution, emancipated themselves, beat off multiple great powers and created a new independent state — the first black republic — where slavery was abolished in toto. Which makes its current history of ruin and dependency even more tragic.


Ralph Leonard is a British-Nigerian writer on international politics, religion, culture and humanism.

buffsoldier_96

Join the discussion


Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber


To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.

Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.

Subscribe
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

22 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Harry Child
Harry Child
6 months ago

Not another article blaming the West for the chaos in Haiti. It is solely the reponsibility of the Haitians to sort out their own problems. It is called independence and they have had it since 1804.

Steven Carr
Steven Carr
6 months ago
Reply to  Harry Child

1804? What is happening today in Haiti must be the fault of Napoleon.

David George
David George
6 months ago

No mention of the genocide of the French Haitians, men women and children? “one of the greatest moments in human history”?

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
6 months ago
Reply to  David George

There’s more: the author could have clearly blamed Christoper Columbus but didn’t pick up the free money. Also the civil war that led to the formation of the other country on the same island, the Dominican Republic which today is as stable as Haiti is chaotic. So he blames “The West” and NGOs, agreed on the latter. What I am still waiting for is a reckoning on how much John Podesta and the Clinton Foundation have extracted from the wretched people of Haiti.

AC Harper
AC Harper
6 months ago

I am part of the West and deny that I have any responsibility for the Haiti chaos, however bad it is. I do not mistake the self pleasuring of pearl clutching for real action.
Now if you argue that I should support the UN, the WHO, or charities, then I would say fine… as long as they revert to their original purpose and not supply a rich seam of virtue to be mined by elite careerists.

R Wright
R Wright
6 months ago

Useless and half-hearted article. The freedom of Haiti as well as its ruin was achieved through the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Haiti’s once large white population. The fact the author didnt even mention it betrays his belief structure. As ever, the black community is portrayed as weak, incompetent dependents at the mercy of world events instead of a living, organic group with its own will. It’s racism, pure and simple.

Arthur King
Arthur King
6 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

Well said. His analysis betrays his own unwillingness to embrace his people’s own agency. He is still bound to a colonial mindset even though the colonists are long dead in the grave. I find it amusing.

William Hickey
William Hickey
6 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

“the black community is portrayed as weak, incompetent dependents at the mercy of world events instead of a living, organic group with its own will. It’s racism, pure and simple.”

Actually, that’s realism.

Race realism.

Steven Carr
Steven Carr
6 months ago

‘Firstly, right after its independence in 1804, the country had to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to its former colonial master France…..’

Japan was atom-bombed and recovered from that a lot faster than in 220 years.

‘Haiti — or Saint Domingue, as it was known back then — was in 1804 the site of surely one of the greatest moments in human history. ‘
‘;Slaughtering white people’ is not the same as one of the greatest moments in human history.

Chris Bradshaw
Chris Bradshaw
6 months ago

FAFO?

Robbie K
Robbie K
6 months ago

Haiti had the potential to be a prime tourist destination and exporter of premium products.
It’s typical of black commentators to paint the failures of this huge potential as a result of old whitey undermining them in various ways and they are therefore the victims, a sad and tedious narrative repeated across African nations with similar circumstances.

Mike Downing
Mike Downing
6 months ago

Ahhh..

That great all-purpose bogeyman, ‘The West ‘ is at it again.

Didn’t get past the first paragraph (or should that be paragrift?). I’m surprised there isn’t a Jewish world conspiracy lurking in the background.

Steven Carr
Steven Carr
6 months ago

So the Haitians killed as many French people as they could and the result today is that many Haitians are fleeing their independent country to live under French rule in French Guiana, which has an average income of about 16,000 Euros per person per year.

El Uro
El Uro
6 months ago

It’s hard to find polite words to describe the author.

Jake Raven
Jake Raven
6 months ago

That’s the way, blame the West for the countries problems, it gets blamed for just about everything else when third world states can’t govern themselves.
I agree with the writer’s implication that aid is not good for these countries, better to let them sort it out themselves. I suggest all aid from the West to more impoverished states should cease with immediate effect.

Right-Wing Hippie
Right-Wing Hippie
6 months ago

Haiti is a Francophone country in the western hemisphere, formerly colonized by a European power and with political and cultural systems modeled (however loosely) on European ones. By those standards, I would say that Haiti is part of the West. Therefore, if the West bears responsibility for Haiti’s chaos, then Haiti herself bears responsibility for her own chaos. Thus I wash my hands of the whole matter.

Arthur King
Arthur King
6 months ago

The West is losing its post-colonial guilt, since too much time has past. Grow the F up as cultures and solve your own problems.

Johan Grönwall
Johan Grönwall
6 months ago

I blame evolution.

Frederick Dixon
Frederick Dixon
6 months ago

Very discreetly expressed, and I entirely agree.

Samuel Ross
Samuel Ross
6 months ago

Haiti is a very violent violent place.

Howard S.
Howard S.
6 months ago

Example # 101 why some groups are incapable of governing themselves. Zimbabwe last example. South Africa headed toward the abyss, protected only by the Western news media which is trying to cover up the mess it created back in the 1970’s and 1980’s. When Nelson Mandela was freed from prison, apartheid abolished, and Mandela elevated to South Africa’s head of state, he was adamant that the white population be permitted, no, encouraged to remain in the country. He knew his own people too well and knew that they were not capable of running a 20th Century economy and country. Example #102 now in the wings, waiting its turn.

William Brand
William Brand
6 months ago

Why the Haitian people paid France for the freed slaves is a big question. I thought they freed themselves. The Monroe doctrine should have kept France from collecting the debt with gunboat diplomacy. America’s interventions were the best thing that ever happened to that country. Hati needs to become a colony again. Somebody needs to tell these people what to do. They are incapable of self-rule. The UN should put Hati up for bid as a colony. America doesn’t want it but fears that China may buy it for a base. As a colony Hati has plenty of resources to develop but anti colonial ideas would make any investment in the country a loser as soon as they start to pay off.