On October 13, protestors calling for the resignation of President Moïse and for “another Haiti” marched through Port-au-Prince. Photo courtesy of Associated Press
Since February 7, 2019, Haiti has been in political turmoil due to ongoing protests against Jovenel Moïse, the country’s president. The opposition party has been calling for Moïse’s resignation, claiming that the president’s corruption is the reason behind the country’s failing economy. Protests have led to more than 20 deaths — with the numbers rising each day. Since the United States has played a large role in Haiti’s political unrest, it has an obligation to also play a part in helping restore peace to the country.
The United States must start by publicly withdrawing support for President Moïse, a leader this country should never have supported to begin with. The U.S.’s former behind-the-scenes support of Moïse would make public denouncement of his actions all the more powerful. In 2014, he was involved in a corruption scandal in which he was awarded contracts to construct a road that he never built. Two years later, Moïse was accused of tampering with the results of the election that won him the presidency. Moïse has proven time and time again that he cannot be trusted, yet the United States still supported him, albeit unofficially, throughout the election.
Just because American involvement is one of the reasons Haiti is in this precarious situation does not mean that the United States should no longer intervene. In fact, the United States now has a responsibility to fix its own mistakes. However, the U.S. should not be directly involved with the events taking place in Haiti. The United States has consistently proven that, when unsupervised, it will only act in its own best interests, so it should turn to the United Nations and petition the organization to help restore peace to the country. The first step in this process would be to reintroduce the presence of the United Nations’ international peacekeepers in Haiti. This presence would bring some security back to region as the Haitian people continue their protests. The United States should also urge the United Nations to help the opposition party find a path forward. It is not enough to only help them win the revolution. Without a concrete plan for government reformation, Haiti could fall right back into the trap of corrupted leadership, and the protests will have all been for nothing.
Intervention by way of the United Nations will help not only Haiti, but also benefit the United States. The Department of State itself said, “When Haiti is more prosperous, secure, and firmly rooted in democracy, Haitians and Americans benefit.” Haiti is rich in natural resources, including oil and natural gas. A stable Haiti will allow for the global supply of these resources to go up, resulting in a decrease of the prices for these materials worldwide.
Haiti and the United States are also geographically close enough that stability in Haiti will lead to a decrease in Haitian immigration rates to the United States. President Donald J. Trump P ’00 himself has referred to Haiti as a “shithole country” and spoke about his irritation at the growing number of immigrants arriving from the country. That despicable comment notwithstanding, if President Trump really is intent on reducing immigration from Haiti, the best way to do so would be to help restore stability to the country. In addition, helping the opposition party in Haiti would further cement the United States’ spot as a key player in the spread of democracy worldwide. As Edwidge Danticat wrote recently in The New Yorker, the opposition wants “a more egalitarian, inclusive, and just society, where the rights of every citizen will be respected. Not just the wealthy and well-connected but the urban and rural poor, too.” By supporting the opposition party, the United States will show the world that it supports these values of democracy on a universal scale.
The United States no longer has the luxury of claiming that it does not want to intervene in Haiti’s political affairs — it already has. American intervention is what got Haiti into this mess, but it also has the power to help get it out of it.
