by professor Dimy Doresca
Opinion: It’s time to break the cycle of violence in Haiti — without foreign intervention
Haiti is in crisis – a crisis that will soon leave millions on the brink of famine.
Since the beginning of March, Haiti has been at the mercy of well-equipped gangs who have taken control of Port-au-Prince, burned police stations, stormed the port and airports, freed more than 4,000 detained in the capital’s two main prisons and threatened the population with genocide. Although the country’s prime minister has announced he will resign once a transitional council is in place, terror continues to grip the capital.
Last week, gangs closed in on the Pétion-Ville neighborhood – a suburb of Port-au-Prince – and robbed banks, ransacked businesses and shot anyone in their path. Children, women and men hid and trembled in fear. With the closure of ports and airports interrupting food imports into the country and roadblocks limiting the movement of people, a real humanitarian crisis is imminent.
The World Food Program warns that 1.4 million Haitians are on the brink of famine. With each passing day, the situation becomes more serious and the prospect of a transition council more elusive.
The political upheavals in Haiti seem to follow a cycle, almost a rhythm. Elections are organized, the candidate who corresponds to the whims of the international community emerges victorious, and then the fallout continues. The corrupt president or prime minister fights tooth and nail to retain power, then, in the midst of a popular uprising, foreign actors help negotiate a transitional government to hold the next election. From a distance, this new crisis appears to be a routine affair. But this time things are different.
This crisis is much worse. Schools are closed, hospitals are emptied, children learn to duck and hold their breath to avoid point-blank gunshots, amid piles of abandoned corpses. The ragged police force is outgunned and outnumbered. As the country descends into anarchy, large numbers of Haitians already living below the absolute poverty line are at risk of death. A Haitian solution, although unlikely, may be the only solution to bring lasting peace.
Although difficult, such a solution can be found if we seek help from the vast Haitian diaspora. A significant majority of the Haitian intelligentsia resides outside Haiti, particularly in the United States and Canada. They work in universities, international organizations, the private sector, etc. Many of them are experts in mediation and conflict resolution. They solve problems in other parts of the world and would be more than happy to help solve problems in their homeland – if asked and given a chance.
This selective group of Haitians from the diaspora can be part of a mediation council responsible for facilitating dialogue between politicians and business leaders in order to find a solution to bring peace to the country, chart a path for good governance with responsible leaders who will commit to eradicating corruption and putting in place the necessary conditions for economic development. A Haitian-designed solution should include the diaspora, because the remittances it sends to Haiti, which go directly to the population, represent more than the foreign aid the country receives. According to the World Bank report on migration and development, remittances to Haiti will reach $4.5 billion, or 16.3% of GDP, in 2023.
It is time for Haiti to begin leveraging the reputation, knowledge and successes of its diaspora to put the country on a path to economic development, as many other developing countries have done. This time, the solution cannot be a simple band-aid solution implemented by outsiders. The stakes are too high. It is time for Haitians to sit at the table and make decisions on issues that concern them.
Doresca, Five Dimy Doresca is clinical associate professor at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Businessdirector of the Institute for International Business, and a native of Haiti.
It’s time to break the cycle of violence in Haiti — without foreign intervention | The Hill
