Haiti’s descent into chaos entered a new chapter this week, when Prime Minister Ariel Henry declared he would resign in the face of a gang takeover of much of Port-au-Prince. Gangs have controlled large sections of the Haitian capital for months, but a rash of violence last weekend saw groups extend their dominance over the city in what appeared a coordinated effort to force Henry from power. Henry had been locked out of Haiti for several days because of the closure of the country’s main international airports due to the violence. He went to Kenya at the beginning of the month to secure the deployment of a multinational police force. Henry had spent several days in Puerto Rico before announcing Monday that he will step down once a transitional council is established. Like so much in Haiti, the prospects for that transitional council are uncertain. The regional Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is helping create the council, but key questions remain unanswered, including whether it will be supported by—or even include—prominent gang leaders such as Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier. The events of the last few days are the latest in a long, troubled saga for the Caribbean country. A devastating 2010 earthquake left more than 217,000 Haitians dead and prompted a generation to flee across the Americas. The situation was compounded by the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, after which Henry assumed the country’s leadership despite not having been elected. Haiti has not held elections since Moïse’s election in 2016 and has not had an elected official in a position of power since January 2023, when senators’ terms ended. As of last month, 362,000 Haitians were internally displaced. International movement has spiked, and many Haitian expatriates have refused to return. More than 144,000 Haitians had obtained humanitarian parole to enter the United States as of January. That month, unauthorized Haitian migrants were encountered by U.S. authorities more than 23,700 times, the most on record; many likely left Haiti years before the current violence. It is possible that there will be a surge in Haitians taking to the seas; already, maritime migration to the United States is on the upswing. Meanwhile, nearly 254,000 Haitians have been forcibly returned since November 2022, when the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began discouraging countries from doing so. The vast majority were sent back by the Dominican Republic, Haiti’s neighbor on the island of Hispaniola and a country with a long and complicated relationship with Haitians. With the crisis certain to continue, the region has no clear, coordinated plan for managing new outflows, as my colleague Valerie Lacarte discussed in a recent MPI commentary. If recent developments prompt a new hurried wave of emigration, it may be just as chaotic as the situation people are fleeing. Best regards, Julian Hattem
Editor, Migration Information Source
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