Haiti

Haiti

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.                                                                                       Albert Einstein

Haiti is a failed state.

Einstein’s words very well describe the way that donor states and agencies have either mismanaged their aid or seen their aid to that country mismanaged over the years. 

Haiti today has no government to speak of.

Armed gangs working on their own or together rule the streets, murdering, kidnapping, and extorting at will. The first nine months of 2023 saw over 5600 gang related incidents, including 3156 killings and 1248 kidnappings.

Nearly 200,000 people, including 130,000 in Port-au-Prince alone, have been internally displaced across Haiti. Approximately half of all internally displaced Haitians are children.

According to National Public Radio (NPR) in the U.S., the United Nations said last month it would appeal for $719 million for Haiti in 2023, about double the amount of 2022. Ulrika Richardson, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, said last month that efforts to combat the worsening crises would be ineffective unless the root causes of Haiti's problems are addressed.

"It's going to be very difficult if we don't address this now," she said. "We have corruption, we have impunity, we have governance and all of that needs to really be at the center of our thinking as we go forward."

Indeed, since 2011, the international donor community has sunk $13 billion in aid into Haiti, and yet the results have been nil. Haiti has sunk onto oblivion, the $13 billion disappeared into a black hole, and the people have nothing.

No government, no jobs, no safety, no economy, no security, and no institutions.

Nothing.

And yet, the United Nations is appealing for an additional $719 million without providing solutions to the challenges its own representative has described.

In my view, the problem with donor management of relations with Haiti is mostly in how the international community views development.

Investing billions of taxpayer dollars to recreate Western democratic models in countries that have no democratic institutions, no history of democracy, no experience with the model, but do have a history of extreme corruption, violence, and injustice over and over again is insanity.

Maybe we have to rethink foreign aid and national construction or reconstruction.

Think outside of the box.

Reinvent diplomacy to deal with harsh realities in a divided world where consensus always appears to be beyond reach.

Do I have a solution?

The short answer is no.

I don’t think anyone does.

But there are two examples of states that have come back from the abyss to a solid condition of normalcy and peace.

In 1994, Rwanda suffered the massacre of over a million Tutsis at the hands of Hutus. Thirty years later, it is a vibrant society relatively free of violence and crime, well on its way to becoming Africa’s hi-tech hub, with an economy that is inclusive and can provide an excellent future for its people.

President Paul Kagame governs with a strong hand, and Rwanda is neither the perfect democracy nor the perfect human rights regime. But Rwandans are living in peace and prospering, and serving as a model for other African states that are also failing or failed.

Up until a few years ago, El Salvador was in the hands of tens of thousands of Maras (organized street gangs) and Salvadorans were subject to a daily reality of kidnappings, extortion, and murders.

Since coming to office in a democratic election, President Nayib Bukele has done away with the Maras, arrested tens of thousands of them, and rid the streets of violence and fear. Salvadorans can now live peacefully and create a more prosperous country.

Bukele is also aiming to turn El Salvador into a hi-tech hub and providing Salvadorans with a way forward. Leveraging financial technology, he is aiming to create an environment in which all Salvadorans can do their banking and receive remittances cheaply and efficiently and can participate in the global economy.

El Salvador is not a perfect democracy, and some question human rights in that country. Time will tell if this program will work but at least sometning new is being tried.

Both Rwanda and El Salvador have tried new approaches to address unrelenting violence and the challenges of economic and social development. These are the first steps to eliminate the victimization of the majority of citizens by a criminal minority while providing them with an economic plan that can help ensure their participation in the global economy.

Perhaps they are not perfect in the eyes of some.

But the perfect is the enemy of the good.

And trying to make a silk purse of democracy out of the sow’s ear of anarchy simply hasn’t worked for over two hundred years in Haiti. You cannot create a culture of democracy overnight, nor overcome the venality and corruption of an entire political class in one fell swoop.

Rwanda and El Salvador may provide a possible model for Haiti to follow, if donor countries and Haitian leaders can leave behind the impotent system that has governed the country for over two centuries and create a new system of governance that addresses the needs of all Haitians and reflects the country’s realities without trying to replicate failed models.

Since there is no domestic democratic movement capable of dealing with the armed gangs or having a viable plan for governance that can appeal to a majority of Haitians, the only solution that I see is creating a n international protectorate in Haiti run by a consortium of democratic Caribbean states with a leader from the region enjoying the confidence of the international community and capable of creating an administration that can govern effectively.

This administration would be buttressed by a well-equipped and staffed international police force mandated to use all the force necessary to rid the country of these gangs and begin a process of national pacification.

It would also be mandated to try in an international court all of those accused of corruption and violence in the past and ensure that full transparency rules in order to gain the trust of a cynical population.

This would include training a cadre of Haitian leaders free from a corrupt past who would slowly integrate into the administration until leaders appear who could not only win a national election but could also provide good government.

This process could take years to unfold.

One cannot hurry the growth of a tree by pulling at it while it is a sapling, nor can one rush political or social development.

But one cannot replicate the past and hope for a different outcome.

That is insanity, and Haiti and the global community have had enough of that.