Canadian & US Intervention taking the long road, Haiti still in dire crisis

By Deandrea Hamilton & Dana Malcolm

Editorial Staff

#Haiti, January 24, 2023 – On the ground, Haitians are terrified.  The gangs they’d thought would be nuetralised by now, are thriving and have enveloped much of the impoverished country in a fog of fear.  Kidnappings, targeted killings of law enforcement and others who dare to speak out and raging control over parts of the almost leaderless Caribbean country have inspired even more attempts to flee; Haitian men, women and children are risking  it all in an unrelenting flow driven by hope and desperation.

Despite sanctions on so-called elites and allegedly corrupt ex-politicians and promises of military intervention to disarm the gangs terrorizing and threatening the government of Haiti, the occupation of US and Canadian soldiers is having little effect, it seems, on the worsening humanitarian crises, raising questions about the effectiveness of the strategy.

The US, Canada and others stepped up late last year with the intent to send a multinational military force into the Republic after Ariel Henry, Haitian Prime Minister publicly requested it in October 2022.

The request came after gangs demanded Henry’s resignation.

The United Nations reports that at least 60 percent of Haiti is controlled by the country’s 200 gangs; residents however say the footprint of lawlessness and takeover is much, much higher.  Police are afraid and are being slaughtered in the streets.

No one is coming when back-up is called.

Canada took the lead on the combined military charge, described by the UN as a security assistance mission and authenticated by a UN Security Council resolution. Canada, in November, had maintained they would not put significant boots on the ground until all Haitian leaders agreed on the decision.

While politicians fought amongst themselves on this tactic, assistance arrived in the form of Haitian-bought armoured vehicles for the police and sanctions began to be laid against certain Haitians. The list of those to be sanctioned and declared ‘enemies of the state’ was compiled by US and Mexican authorities and included gang leaders and other elites who were summarily placed under travel bans, had their assets frozen and were banned from purchasing arms and doing business in the US and Canada.

But that has not stopped the chaos and mere weeks into 2023, the final cohort of democratically  elected leaders dramatically left office;  their terms having expired in early January, collapsing the last shreds of democracy.

The US and Canada have met to discuss the situation, but no concrete way forward was announced other than the sanctioning of two more ‘elites’.

Despite Henry’s cry for help and the UN agreement, Bob Ray, Canadian ambassador to the UN, has indicated that major military operations in Haiti would not have a lasting impact on the Caribbean nation and Canada is instead looking at more long-term options.

“We have to admit there’s been a history of what I would call large-scale military interventions that have not worked,” Ray told Canadian media houses. “The question is what form of intervention would be the most sustainable, and that is what we are still discussing.”

The assessment comes as Henry indicated he hoped the multinational force would arrive in the country this year. And as the crisis worsens, Haitians have continued to finance their exodus, even in dangerously small boats, hungry for a taste of a better life, albeit on another shore and without the welcome mat.

Record numbers of migrants have now illegally turned up in countries like the Turks and Caicos, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico and the United States, exposing a worrying trend mere weeks into the New Year.