Where is Haiti Going? Ilio Durandis--April 2021

 

Where Is Haiti Going ?

For those on the sideline, assisting to the circus that is Haiti’s social political conflict, it might be incomprehensible to grasp why things are the way they are in that country. More recently, I have stepped aside from the everyday noise going on either on Haitian social media or within group chats of the few well-intentioned trying to stay involved and engaged in this generational combat for the future of Haiti.

The battle for the soul of Haiti and the welfare of Haitians are never-ending. The concrete solutions are scarce, and with each passing day, the political climate becomes more dangerous. Haiti is at the brink. The complicity of the international community alongside the Haitian economic sector and the egregious political actors in their nefarious neo-colonial project cannot be minimized. Today, one could easily summarize that Haiti is going nowhere, but that would be too nice of a summary. Indeed, Haiti is heading straight to the road of hell with no break in sight.

As much as many sectors of the Haitian civil society is crying foul of Jovenel Moise’s dictatorial project, more is needed from them. At this stage, it is not enough to organize sporadic street protests on a given Sunday and go back to a normal routine the next day. It is not enough to put out a public statement condemning an authoritarian decree, and at the same time find a way to obey such a decree without much resistance. Moise’s plan for Haiti is to turn the country under his sole authority and to give full protection to his cronies who have dilapidated more than one billion dollars from the Petrocaribe fund.

The Haitian intelligentsia is all but invisible during this great societal collapse of our generation. Of course, there are a few exceptions of Haitian intellectuals, people like Lyonel Trouillot, Michel Soukar, Edwidge Danticat, Régine Jean Charles who are engaged in the public discourse, and some even took a stand against this despotic PHTK regime and allies. However, more is expected from this community. The intellectuals of this era need to go beyond the periodicals, and the infrequent audio-visual interviews. They need to use their voice and intellect through more direct advocacy and holding those in power more accountable to amplify the outcry of the voiceless mass.

The Haitian media along with the international press have done an abysmal job in informing their audience about the gravity of the atrocities taking place in the country. Since 2018, human rights’ groups have well-documented more than three massacres in various neighborhoods, such as La Saline, Bel-air, Pont-Rouge to cite just these localities, and yet the media coverage goes on as if they’re not a big deal. The reporting has not gone far enough to keep the pressure on those criminals who are destroying innocent lives and creating a fear atmosphere for the rest of the population. The media’s role in social change cannot be underestimated, and when it is not up to the task, social change becomes much more difficult to achieve. It is time that the media do better and break with the malpractice of serving as the mouthpiece of a brutal regime. It needs to properly document and investigate all the wrongs being done under the Moise’s administration.

Now, what have become of these state’s institutions, the National Police (PNH), the Superior Council of the Judicial branch (CSPJ), the parliament, the Cassation Court and even the Court of Auditors (CSCCA) under Moise’s rule?

For starter, the PNH is all but a shell of its former self. This institution, which was once touted as one of the few well-functioning and less corrupted of all Haitian institutions has totally become a private security firm for the national palace. The PNH acts without regard to human rights and seems to take their direct orders from the head of the executive branch. Under the current leadership of Leon Charles, it has become clear that the PNH is not going after the criminals, such as gang leaders, but rather is targeting peaceful citizens who dare to protest against insecurity, corruption and insecurity.

Moise’s administration has weakened or rendered dysfunctional the other critical branches of government and the few institutions that could legally play the role of check and balances on his absurd plan to sink Haiti in the rabbit hole. The court of auditors (CSCCA), upon publishing three critical reports on the greatest public and financial crime in the country’s history has seen its constitutional role totally diminished by the Moise-Jouthe tandem. The CSPJ is non-existent, as this administration is more concerned about federating the various gangs rather than letting the security forces do their job in protecting and serving Haitian lives. As a result, we are experiencing an exponential rise in violence, kidnapping and total anarchy in most of Haiti.

And as the constitutional mandate of Jovenel Moise came to an end this past February 7th, in a last ditched effort to suppress the authority of the law, Moise’s regime created a fictitious story about an attempted coup, where they arbitrarily arrested the most senior member of the Court of Cassation along with a dozen other individuals, whom they would later have to liberate after the verdict of an appellate court.

Haiti is currently a dysfunctional state, where the only authorities with staying power seem to be the gang leaders, who are using their guns to silence the mass and do the invisible dirty work of an atrocious regime. Moise’s Haiti is synonymous with chaos and total failure, where no one or no friend of Haiti in their right mind can contemplate fair and just elections.

The possible solutions to get Haiti out of this mayhem might very well include a combinatorial approach with fresh local actors, whether they are social activists, leaders of civil society organizations, young and successful entrepreneurs alongside savvy members of the diaspora who have specific technical and political skill sets. This is a country that must be built from the ground up, for the last ten years of PHTK and allies have all but destroyed the basic foundations of a nation-state. A new vision with a new collective leadership model must be adopted, and this work cannot be entrusted with the past destroyers of the nation.

At present, Haiti might be going nowhere, but that does not have to be the case moving forward. In fact, Haiti can easily be moving towards a progressive democracy based on social justice, gender equality, the end of impunity and application of the rule of law. In order to get there, the Haitian people needs to realize that a referendum with Jovenel Moise is not part of the solution, and the international community needs to put an end to their folly of supporting a neo-dictator, who has absolutely no idea about what it takes to run a free and sovereign nation.