#HAITI GENERAL STRIKE SERIES#

has the imagination or the political courage to reinvent its role and to establish a more egalitarian relationship there. holds sway over Haiti and Haitians, while familiar and undeniable, infuriates many Haitians.Īs Haiti passes another anniversary of Duvalier’s fall, its political crisis vividly illustrates the difficulties of moving beyond that history. Haitian-American relations have always been about the souls of both nations: about slavery and its legacy, about racial injustice and Black power. Mass protests now over rampant crime and increasingly unlivable poverty could force the international community’s hand and open a plausible path through the morass. 7, everyone in Haiti recalls the central role of popular unrest in the fall of Duvalier. They can seem powerless and inattentive, until they rise up. One other faction could tip this terrible balance - the Haitian people. would have to look elsewhere for Haitian leadership.

What the news media calls “potentially incriminating details” about his relationship with the main suspect in the Moise assassination could turn into charges against him, in which case, the U.S. A sword of Damocles hangs over the de facto prime minister. is still with Henry, but that may not last. Seen through the American lens, however, the coalition may appear unpredictable and amorphous, a questionable protégé, although intermediaries have been in sporadic contact with the group.įor now, the U.S. At the end of January, they calmly and decorously elected a proposed transition president and prime minister.

Its members hope that just by being there, a positive alternative to the failures of Henry and of what remains of the Moise regime, they may prevail. The commission has expanded its original membership and cast a wider ideological net to increase its appeal to the United States. Five months before Moise was killed, this group, disgusted by Moise’s disastrous presidency, gathered representatives of large swaths of Haitian society in an attempt to establish a diverse, competent transition government, counter gang warfare, hold safe democratic elections and steer the country toward functioning self-rule. Then there’s the progressive Commission for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis. This time, Washington should let Haiti find its own solutions. One leader assassinated, another on the brink of being indicted in the killing. Opinion Op-Ed: In Haiti, the battle for leadership is really a battle for loot At least he probably won’t cause new problems. They understand what to expect of him: not much. To the Americans, he is appealing because he’s a known quantity. Henry heads one faction vying for more permanent control and the blessing of the foreigners. Instead, the battle for control of Haiti has become a struggle to win the backing of the United States and its international friends, not because they are trusted allies but because they provide the foreign aid necessary for the economy, as well as the potential for technical assistance in disarming the gangs. In such conditions, voters don’t turn out. Only a month ago Henry himself had to be rescued from a gun battle between his security guards and a bunch of gang members at an official ceremony.

In parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, gangs fight over turf while the population cowers indoors. Assassinations of journalists and opposition figures are run-of-the-mill events. Kidnapping is a business, run like a business, but messier. Fearsome gangs - allied with politicians, drug traffickers and businessmen - rule the streets, armed with imposing, military-style weapons.

#HAITI GENERAL STRIKE SERIES#

A series of U.S.-supported leaders have left the country rudderless, awash in corruption and crime.

Haiti general strike