Who’s in charge?
No authority has legitimacy right now in the Western hemisphere’s poorest country. Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph was nominally left in charge after Jovenal Moïse was gunned down in his home by a hit squad working on behalf of unknown actors. But Joseph, who was appointed by Moïse in April, had little legitimacy, and this week, he agreed to transfer power “for the good of the nation” to Ariel Henry, a 71-year-old neurosurgeon who is being backed by the Core Group, an informal bloc of foreign ambassadors from the EU, the U.N., and six nations, including the U.S. Under Moïse’s rule, violent gangs had terrorized Haitians, killing dozens and engaging in kidnapping and rape; now the country is in turmoil, with Haitians afraid to leave their homes. Joseph has asked the U.S. to deploy troops to protect critical infrastructure. But previous U.S. interventions have failed, and President Biden said that while Marines would protect the U.S. Embassy, sending troops is “not on the agenda.”