What's Going On In Haiti?

Over the decades, Haiti has been struggling due to a myriad of developments.

One of which is powerful nations stealing and digging up its resources when the lights aren’t being used, which causes earthquakes and an abundance of disarray, according to folks that used to live in Haiti. All of that has built up to this situation: The country is now facing “an increasingly dire humanitarian emergency,” and the president is stranded in Puerto Rico, while the people starve and live in fear of rampant violence, according to NBC News.

Additionally, Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, has agreed to resign when a transitional government is “brokered by other Caribbean nations and parties, including the U.S.”

Still, the idea of a “transitional government brokered not by Haitians but by outsiders is one of the main reasons Haiti, a nation of 11 million, is on the brink” according to humanitarian workers and residents who have wanted for Haitian-led solutions.

“What we’re seeing in Haiti has been building since the 2010 earthquake,” said Greg Beckett, an associate professor of anthropology at Western University in Canada. 

But what is happening in Haiti and why? Following democratically elected President Jovenel Moise being assassinated in 2021, Henry, who was prime minister under Moise, assumed power, and he had the support of several nations.

And when Haiti failed to hold elections several times – Henry said it was due to logistical problems or violence – protests against him started to happen. So, it was announced that elections would be postponed once more, to 2025, but armed groups were already active in Por-au-Prince, which is the capital, dialing up violence.

Even before Moise’s assassination, these armed groups were in existence alongside politicians who used them to do their bidding, which was anything from intimidating the opposition to collecting votes. But the dwindling of the country’s elected officials is a real thing, and this has resulted in rebel forces engaging in excessively violent acts, taking control of at least 80% of the capital, according to a United Nations estimate.

According to Politico, the Biden administration sent top Republicans in Congress its plan for helping Haiti. Last year, the U.S. pledged $300 million to the United Nations multinational mission, which would involve 1,000 Kenyan police officers deploying to Haiti to try and quell the chaos caused by armed groups.

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