Haiti’s Bandits--December 2019

 

Photo by John Carroll

What should done with the Haitian bandits?

I don’t mean the ones running the government or the international schemers who work against the people. Those are the big bandits.

I am asking about Haiti’s little bandits. You know, the bandits from the bidonvilles. The little bandits are the ones who ride on motorcycles, have guns and cell phones, and work very quickly. (I have been robbed twice during 40 years in Haiti and it happens SO quickly.) And the little bandits can kill people during robberies. They often do.

Little bandits also beat up nuns who are giving their lives to help them. And the same bandits steal from neighborhood feeding programs and the hungry stay hungry.

Little bandits control large slums also. And they wreak tons of fear. Just a couple of days ago a prominent gang leader in a notorious slum was shot and killed. And very quickly a new leader took control. The people in the area fled to another place to camp for the night and maybe longer because they were scared. Their unfortunate lives became even harder than usual which is saying something.

I do know this: Little bandits can be paid to intimidate and kill and they can be paid to keep the peace also. I know from first-hand experience that paying people to keep the peace works. But should we do this? Should we have to pay in order to breathe?

I do not care which big bandits are paying off the little bandits to create havoc or to enforce peace. This is for someone else to figure out. The reality is that Haiti is being destroyed—not only by deforestation, and pollution, and poverty, and by big bandits—but by little bandits, too.

Little bandits scare everyone because what they do is so visible and often horrific and not hidden in encrypted servers–penetrated only by skilled hackers and shared by WikiLeaks.  Little bandits are in your face and you don’t forget what they look like. They are not encrypted.

Little bandits stop Haiti from working. And Haitians suffer and die every day because they cannot get from point A to point B. Sick babies die when their mothers cannot take them for medical care, and so do ladies who need C sections when they cannot get through the burning barricades. And hospitals don’t have employees because employees can’t get to work.

I spoke with a Haitian friend today.  Here is my translation of what he said lightly edited by me–

“Every person is afraid of every other person (in Port-au-Prince). Guns are everywhere. It is fragile (the streets) and bandits are everywhere.

I am afraid to go outside.

If you are afraid you must not leave (your neighborhood). If you are not afraid, you can leave (to venture out on the street to run errands and buy food and water for your family.)

Bandits are robbing and raping both men and women.

Bandits on motorcycles stop and rob and kill quickly. I will send you a video so you understand.  

One reason food is hard to find for me is that food coming from the countryside is stopped when roads coming to the capital are blocked by bandits. And the food stays there and spoils. Food on the streets (of Port-au-Prince) is very expensive.

It is horrible because people are hungry. I saw hungry people yesterday and I cried. They have no money to buy food. The first thing we need is food in order to live.

People exist in Haiti. We don’t really live. The conditions in Haiti are not right to live.

We need prayer. We need prayer and action. We need good leaders with  good hearts.”

——–

If the opposition was successful and the Haitian president resigned tomorrow, and there was some sort of “provisional government” set up in Haiti, so what?  Would that make the lives of poor Haitians better? Would the little bandits suddenly stop robbing and raping?

Haiti’s little bandits have been unleashed and now function with impunity.  They have been given arms and bullets and money by the big bandits that the Haitian police are not equipped to fight.

At least for now, Haiti’s big bandits have lost control.

 

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org

4 thoughts on “Haiti’s Bandits”

1. Dr Jim

2. says:

3. December 5, 2019 at 3:56 pm Edit
   Sorry, I HAD to respond to this. There are gangs near downtown St. Louis. They control and terrorize north St Louis city. The central city corridor and south St Louis city are safe, away from their madness. St Louie is SAFE, unless you travel at night to N St Louis city.
   Ferguson, media not withstanding, is a safe and thriving community. No gangs there.
   My point being, there will always be bad guys who exploit the poor and circumstances. God will judge their behavior at the end.
   Reply

1. John Carroll, MD

2. says:

3. December 6, 2019 at 10:46 am Edit
   Reliable crime statistics for Haiti are difficult to come by. Having said that, in 2012 the Port au Prince homicide rate was 60/100,000.
   The City of St. Louis homicide rate in 2016 was 60/100,000 also.
   So comparing statistics (for what they are worth) people in St. Louis kill each other at the same rate as people in Port au Prince.
   However, IMHO, there is a difference in how the homicide rates affect the general population in both cities.
   Dr. Jim, are your people in St. Louis stopped from going to the doctor today by burning barricades on your streets? Are your hospitals in St. Louis open today? Are people in St. Louis starving today because they are afraid to go on the streets to the store? Is there electricity today in St. Louis or is there a blackout because folks did not pay the local gangs to allow them to have electricity?
   The little bandits in Haiti are not responsible for 100% of what I mentioned above. But they do contribute significantly to the lawlessness of Port au Prince. Downstream poor people are held captive by the lawlessness in their own neighborhoods.
   Please keep in mind that I am not talking about the big bandits in Haiti (or outside of Haiti) which are the main drivers of misery and have been the main cause for destructive street demonstrations in Haiti for the past 3 months.
   Reply

4. James Boston

5. says:

6. December 6, 2019 at 9:41 am Edit
   John…this is just a thought and not a recommendation. I have been to Haiti 23 times. It is quite obvious that while unwanted by the people, the UN forces in Haiti were able to curtail much of the activity of the Little Bandits. Haiti seemed so show some signs of functioning with the troops visible to all.
   Now that they are gone, the door has been opened for total lawlessness and the bandits have opened that door wide.
   I realize that as a free nation, the Haitians do not wish to be “Occupied “. However, given the country’s inability to police itself effectively, I am wondering if the world should step in once again.
   Reply

1. John Carroll, MD

2. says:

December 6, 2019 at 10:52 am Edit
Good thoughts, Jim.
There are people who support the Little Bandits and what they do and only point at the Big Bandits. However, both are at fault. Ask any decent poor person in Haiti trying to provide for his family today.
I sure don’t have the answers. I wish I did.
john
Reply