Haiti’s ongoing sociopolitical crises took a turn for the worse on July 7th with the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Following the assassination were weeks of political scuffling, but on July 20th interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph agreed to step down and hand power to his rival Ariel Henry. Henry is a 72 years old neurosurgeon who entered politics in 2000 as a leader of the Democratic Convergence movement in opposition to Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s presidency and is currently a member of Inite, a center-left and social-democratic party.
While the conflict of who will be Prime Minister may be over, gangs continue to rule the streets and violence and killings continue. The international community continues to press for the first round of parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on September 26. Prime Minister Henry seems to be following that course stating “the mission of this government is to prepare the conditions to hold the elections as quickly as possible.” However, leading Haitian civil society groups as well as rights activists are pushing back on that idea, citing ongoing gang violence, lawlessness and displacement that make for an unsafe environment for candidates to campaign and voters going to the polls.
There is a constant struggle over how and what support Haiti needs from the international community. Military intervention has left a long and troubled legacy. Humanitarian aid can be positive if done in partnership with Haitians collaborating with their communities, but can be destructive when poorly managed, or based on principles not relevant to the average Haitian. We don’t know the answer, but hope the solution comes from the people of Haiti, with appropriate support for their ideas from the international community.
What we do know is that HAM’s collaboration with the communities we serve remains strong. This model has served us well for the past 22 years and we have every intention of continuing together for a long time coming.