Senior officials from Haiti have issued an urgent call for security aid from neighboring countries during a recent conference of the Organization of American States. Conversely, the United States has indicated its intention to withhold further funding intended to stem the tide of armed gangs currently overrunning the nation.
The rise in power of these gangs, armed predominantly, according to the United Nations, with firearms trafficked from the United States and the Dominican Republic, has led to them seizing control of vast areas of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The crisis has also spread to the central plateau and core agricultural regions, resulting in the displacement of over a million people.
Barbara Feinstein, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti, voiced the U.S. perspective at the meeting. ‘While we remain determined to assist the Haitian people achieve the peace, security, and prosperity they deserve, the United States cannot continue shouldering such a significant financial burden,’ she said.
It is noted that the U.S. has reduced much of its overseas aid and halted some funding it had previously committed to support a U.N.-backed mission in Haiti. Earlier this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that the OAS should take on a more substantive role in aiding Haiti’s stability.
Meanwhile, several nations have pledged troops to the mission, but only a fraction have been deployed. The Kenyan-led force remains under-resourced and has had limited success in curbing gang activity.
This raises important questions about the future of Haiti’s security. OAS special advisor Jared Genser proposed that unless the mission proves capable of providing security for Haitians, the U.N. Security Council should vote to convert it into a formal peacekeeping mission. This measure has been consistently requested by Haitian leaders but meets opposition from veto members China and Russia.
Haitian Defense Minister Jean-Michel Moise provided a stark assessment, attributing the crisis to gangs profiting from trafficking cocaine from Colombia and arms from the United States. ‘This criminal economy fuels a local war machine,’ Moise remarked. ‘Haiti is on the brink of being fully controlled by criminal gangs, and we cannot allow that to happen. We desperately need the help of the international community.’
We should note that Haiti has around 12,000 police and 1,000 military officers for a population nearing 12 million. Minister Moise also appealed for a relaxation in restrictions on selling arms to Haiti’s government, citing the easy access gangs have to militarized weapons.
The significance of this should not be overlooked. A nation is in crisis, a region is on edge, and the international community grapples with the best path forward.
