Hey, Joe: How About Haiti?
Haiti is again descending deep into chaos and violence — to the point where, historically, the United States has intervened. Where’s President Biden? The latest was the March 2 prison break that sprang most of the nearly 4,000 inmates of the National Penitentiary, part of coordinated strikes across the capital city of Portau-Prince. Heavily armed gangs now control 80% of the city, including the nation’s only international airport. Armed vigilantes are the main opposition to the gangs.
The chaos forced Prime Minister Ariel Henry to land in Puerto Rico, disrupting his return from Kenya, where he was pushing for the deployment of a UN-promised international force to help restore order.
The State Department has urged Americans to leave Haiti, but good luck; the gangs have the airport and the Dominican Republic has closed its airspace to its neighbor.
One gang leader, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, an ex-police officer, threatened “civil war that will lead to genocide” unless Henry steps down — but civil war might be more orderly than the insanity inflicting Haiti.
Sparking the latest downward spiral was President Jovenel Moise’s assassination in July 2021, followed by Henry’s takeover as de facto dictator; he refuses to hold elections. The Parliament and high court lack the members to function.
Tens of thousands of Haitians have tried to flee to America. The Biden administration, in turn, has respected Henry as Haiti’s leader not least because he’s willing to kosherize US deportation of Haitian migrants.
The White House says it won’t send US troops to Haiti, but only help fund that UN force, to be comprised of security personnel from Africa, the Caribbean and Central America. The UN Security Council OK’d that Kenyan-led force in October, but actually deploying it seems beyond dicey: The last UN force sent to “help” Haiti pulled out in 2017 after causing a cholera outbreak; some troops reportedly raped and looted.
Biden’s getting very loud about the humanitarian crisis of the 2 million trapped in Gaza; perhaps he could spare some words for the misery of 11 million Haitians, just a few hundred miles from US shores?