It is more than reasonable to question at this stage why the international community, particularly Western industrialised nations, continue to turn a blind eye to the horrors taking place in Haiti.
The crisis in Haiti cannot be wished away. It is now too endemic and systemic for the Haitian people to resolve on their own. Even if members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are unable to respond collectively with finance and military forces, they need to be much more vocal on the international stage, bringing greater attention to the Haitian people’s plight.
Haiti, the Western hemisphere’s poorest nation and a CARICOM member, has slid further into chaos, and its people more beset by hunger, political disorder, anarchy and abuse, as control has shifted to the hands of lawless hoodlums with high-powered weaponry.
While we could spend a long time debating the source of these guns pouring into Haitian cities, we will focus on the average citizen of Haiti, who is living in poverty and destitution. There is a total collapse of the rule of law, and this has pushed people there further to the brink.
The thousands of Haitians taking their chances to flee their homeland on rickety old boats trying to illegally enter The Bahamas, Jamaica and the United States, rather than endure the seeming hopeless life In the country, is telling.
Ruled for decades by dictators, Haiti has careened from one crisis to another. We in the region will recall the reign of strong man François Duvalier nicknamed Papa Doc, who declared himself president for life in the 1960s until his death in 1971.
Duvalier’s rule did not end with the death of Papa Doc as his son Jean-Claude Baby Doc Duvalier, another brutal leader continued the dictatorship that often involved political killings and harassment of opposition forces.
Therefore, understanding why priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide became so popular with Haitian masses and later became the country’s first democratically elected president in 1990, it is necessary to appreciate the historical and political backdrop.
Ordinary black Haitians had become fed up with the small wealthy, ruling class of Haitians, who used colourism to separate themselves and lord over the masses of poor people.
Unfortunately, Bertrand was removed following a military coup that many suspected included interference by outside forces in 1991. The country has not enjoyed any extended period of peace and stability since then.
Today, the masses in Haiti are likely in a worse position economically and socially than prior to Aristide’s election to the presidency.
Haitians have endured much over the centuries, and their level of resilience is nothing short of phenomenal.
Despite this, almost half of Haiti’s children are reportedly facing acute hunger, there is rampant violence, soaring inflation, and multiple natural disasters that are also contributing to the intolerable conditions there.
According to ReliefWeb, an organisation that tracks development issues, “gang violence, a political standstill and insecurity have displaced hundreds of thousands of people” in Haiti. In addition, the United Nations assessed that 5.2 million Haitians or nearly half the entire population was in desperate need of humanitarian aid.
One of the worst atrocities in recent times occurred just days ago in the capital Port-au-Prince when at least seven people were killed, and several others wounded when gang members fired upon fed up church members who organised a protest march.
The church members, some of whom were armed with machetes for their own protection, were set upon by heavily armed gunmen during their march through the capital.
It has been reported that in the last two weeks, 187 Haitians were killed by lawless, marauding gang members.
We in the Caribbean can no longer look on as though we are disinterested parties. Haiti is one of us and we need to start protecting Haitians as we would members of our family.
