par Haiti sinks into chaos and international expertise resumes service with his atypical patient, suitable to receive from the same nursing staff for his rather recurrent case, the same treatment protocol, the same doses of drugs but of course, with another attractive budget. I am not in a position at the moment to deny whether the various Haitian crises have not generated more than one hundred thousand direct jobs for foreign experts and soldiers, from 1994 to the present day.
In a petition dated June 2nd, 2020 that remained a dead letter I had addressed to the Honorable António Guterres, I asked: “… Why, Mr. Secretary-General, I would be grateful if you would evaluate the policy of the United Nations towards Haiti for about a quarter of a century. To date, the various remedies recommended or imposed by your pharmacies have not produced any saving effect; the case worsens before your eyes without understanding or hearing the shrill cries of a population in danger. Haiti’s friends must make the clear choice to help the people instead of supporting a president…..” Nothing was corrected and despite their unconditional support for the President at the time, this could not prevent the vicious assassination of Jovenel Moïse. Which organization should have regularly evaluated and audited United Nations missions to avert the Haitian disaster?
Former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti James B. Foley said, “There is no doubt that foreign powers bear responsibility for the root causes of many of Haiti’s contemporary ills: from the country’s brutal history as a slave colony of France, to its imposition by France of overwhelming indemnity, and its handling by the United States for much of the 19th century. Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that Haiti has failed to develop functioning government institutions and the rule of law.” Painful but brilliant affirmations of a diplomat!
On August 8, 2022, the Organization of American States published in a passionate and surprising report in which it recounts: “The institutional crisis that Haiti is experiencing is the direct result of the actions of the endogenous forces of the country and the international community. The last 20 years of the international community’s presence in Haiti constitute one of the most important and manifest failures of measures implemented and of international cooperation action. Under the umbrella of the international community, the criminal gangs that today besiege the country and its people have fermented and germinated, under this umbrella the process of deinstitutionalization and political crisis that we know today has germinated and smoldered… An international community that never knew if it should keep the MINUSTAH in place or pull the mission out, an international community that believed paying its own consultants would solve the problems of Haitians…”. Billions of dollars were spent without any results. Today, the same international actors in the face of the ongoing crisis are not changing their stance. They accept no Haitian solution without Ariel Henry at the head of a government who is accountable to no one, without Head of State, or functional Parliamentary and Judicial Powers. Can this be considered support for democracy or for an individual?
And now this Prime Minister, neither ratified by the legislative chambers nor sworn in, arrogates to himself all state powers, scolded by the vast majority of all components of the Nation and the diaspora, with the complicity of a council of ministers appointed by him, officially requests international tutelage to stay in power. And rapidly, there is this commotion in the diplomatic corridors, and they are looking for troops for humanitarian aid in Haiti. If the kidnapping, rape and massacres had left our potential guardians insensitive, the fuel crisis and the sudden resurgence of cholera were able to mobilize those who, only yesterday, advocated the holding of elections in full terror of armed gangs. What sudden compassion!
Altogether in all, the dangerous situation in the Republic of Haiti further complicates the task of the international community, which is looking for a way out even if the problem, as usual, is not resolved. A military force would be a palliative to defuse this bomb in the heart of the Americas and a stone’s throw away from the coasts of the leading world’s power. We must avoid a large stream of Haitian migrants offering the annoying spectacle of small boats crowded with people victims of misfortunes, braving hostile oceans, in search of hospitable skies. The unproductive actions of diplomacy through the OAS and the UN over several decades have caused erosion of the credibility of major Western democracies such as the United States, France and Canada, which represent for us privileged partners. Makes you wonder if their missteps in the Haitian situation are not the harmful work of powerful lobbyists executing a racist plan to destroy the First Black Republic and underground conduct – who knows – of double agents on the ground, working with the aim of destabilizing the region and discrediting their actions for ideological and geopolitical purposes; which would present the management of the Haitian situation as a FAILURE of their foreign policy and even create a HAÏTIGATE, with hints of suspicion of great corruption. This would be worth exploring extensively.
So, what do we do? Citizens are divided on the question of military intervention as desired by Prime Minister Ariel Henry to stay in office and thus stifle the great popular anger. Beyond the blatant illegality of his request, everyone knows the petty motives of the government. And I am totally against this wilting by a disguised foreign occupation. After analysis of the facts, I keep my initial position often expressed clearly in the publications of my PARTY ‘FORCE LOUVERTURIENNE REFORMIST’, today a member of the Political Concertation Group. To deal immediately with the situation, Haiti needs real bilateral or multilateral MILITARY COOPERATION, in order to strengthen its once dismantled security structures. The embryo of the army and the civilian police currently in place cannot cope with the challenges of the moment with the manpower and armaments at their disposal.
Moreover, the problem is not exclusively military; it is political, social and economic. All our crises arose in the aftermath of fraudulent or contested elections, held under the high supervision of the international community from voter registration to the announcement of the results. Therefore, we must completely review the vision that has always led the governance of successive transitional periods. No President, even a democratically elected President, will be able to stabilize the country with the same mafia-like system and political engineering of state administration. The Haitian Nation, through their youth, peasantry, diaspora and the non-corrupted elites left, advocates the creation of another State capable of defining a new vision of governance, reducing glaring social inequalities and restoring the population’s confidence in its republican and democratic institutions. Haiti is therefore ready for its QUIET REVOLUTION – as Quebec did in Canada in the 60s – which must go through a reconversion of the mentality, the modernization of its economy, its education system, its production structures, its social, athletic and cultural infrastructures, its way of life in compliance with the law and morals.
Society is generally drifting, and the proponents of the STATUS QUO have lost even the ability to sustain the infamy of ancient times.
To get out of this slump right away, if the international community wants to make an effective contribution to us that is, it should promote the emergence of a new
Transitional Governance with on its agenda: the restoration of security, precautionary measures against impunity, corruption, illicit trafficking, the consolidation of public finances and general administration, the creation of jobs through a massive investment of fresh capital and finally, the establishment of acceptable conditions for the organization of a democratic election and the restoration of constitutional order. All that will suffice is a patriotic awareness and the will of the international community.
The ‘Force Louverturienne Réformist’ Party remains committed to the legitimate demands of the population and is ready to patriotically be part of any NATIONAL PROJECT. In politics, everything is negotiable, except the honor and dignity of a population. TOGETHER NOW!
On this 10th day of October 2022
Emmanuel Ménard
