A hot mess

The Caribbean island nation of Haiti is once more in a first- class political mess.

Its previous elected president, Michel Martelly, a former entertainer, stepped down in February with no successor in place. On June 14, the 120- day mandate of the provisional president, Jocelerme Privert, expired, with no permanent or provisional successor lined up. Haiti’s two- house legislature, currently composed of 22 senators and 92 deputies, was supposed to meet either to extend Privert’s term or to choose another provisional president, but it didn’t.

Haiti’s problems remain manifold. It still hasn’t recovered from the 2010 earthquake that claimed an estimated 46,000 to 85,000 lives, originally overstated to be 316,000.

Many donors have not respected their commitments. A just- released report by the U. S. Senate charges that the American Red Cross, one of the major organizations working in Haiti on earthquake relief, spent a disproportionate amount of its resources on fundraising, salaries and other administrative costs instead of on actual relief— which the American Red Cross denies.

Haiti’s first order of business is to put in place an interim president. It is scheduled to hold new elections in October. The political mess is not new for Haiti, but that doesn’t relieve the situation of its very poor population, probably the most miserable in the hemisphere.