March 7, 2024 (EIRNS)—When he addressed the Feb. 25-28 summit of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Guyana, Brazilian President Lula da Silva sharply criticized the international community for its failure to promote Haiti’s economic development as the way to deal with that nation’s humanitarian and security crisis. In Haiti, he said, “we need to act rapidly to alleviate the suffering of a population lacerated by tragedy. Unfortunately, the international community didn’t listen when Brazil warned that the effort to stabilize [Haiti] would only be sustainable with massive support for development and the institutional strengthening of the country.”
The Biden administration, and its predecessors going back years, never had any policy for developing Haiti and the chaos, and gang violence wracking the country today is the result. After staunchly supporting the hated de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry for two years, when Haitians were demanding his resignation, Biden’s government has been reduced to now frantically trying to work out a deal for a transitional government and eventually a new prime minister, although Washington insists they’re not asking Henry to step down. Henry, who hasn’t been able to get back to Haiti after his foreign travel, has been told by gang leaders not to show his face in the country or risk civil war or death.
The capital of Port-au-Prince is devastated, and a state of emergency has been extended for another month while the police try to hold on against the better-armed gangs. Dead bodies line the streets of the capital and the healthcare system has collapsed. Under these conditions, the U.S.’s plan of deploying a Kenyan-led police force into the country is delusional. CARICOM is trying to negotiate with various Haitian groups to work out a consensus agreement for a transitional arrangement, but Haitian factions say there will be no agreement to anything unless Henry resigns.
Robert Fatton, a University of Virginia-based Haitian expert, was quoted by Fox News stating, “The people with the guns are essentially the current arbiter of Haitian politics. The gangs have won the battle so far.” He criticizes the Biden government for failing to take action two years ago. Now, he said, “the country is falling apart, and everyone is watching. I am dumbfounded. I thought I had seen everything.”
