Haiti Crisis: 3 Things to Know About the Unrest in the Caribbean

Haiti spent its second day of a state of emergency after gangs attacked the capital city, Port-au-Prince, and raided its prisons over the weekend, releasing thousands of inmates.

As of Monday (Mar. 4), the country's airport is under siege and there is no clear update whether Haiti's de facto prime minister, Ariel Henry had made it back to the country after visiting Kenya to ask for a contingent of Kenyan police to restore law and order in the Caribbean nation.

Haitian activist Monique Clesca told NPR that the weekend represented "three days of terror."

"Gangs paraded throughout Port-au-Prince with their arms openly," she said. "It wasn't done at night and the police [were] nowhere to be found."

Almost three years after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, the country descended into chaos - no elections have been held since 2017, elected officials have stepped down due to term expiry, security services were overwhelmed, and millions were going hungry and have been displaced.

Here are three developments regarding the latest string of violent incidents in the country

Gangs Interfere with Politics

Robert Fatton, a University of Virginia student specializing in Haitian studies, said that violence in Haiti was marked by fights between gangs, and the current situation is a critical moment for the country.

What is different from previous gang violence incidents, Haitian gangs have forged an alliance, with at least one of the leaders, Jimmy "Barbecue" Chérizier, explicitly saying that the point of the current violence was to overthrow the government.

Fatton added that the gangs consolidating their strength made them control most of Port-au-Prince and even shot at aircraft at the city's international airport, prompting international airlines to stop their flights to Port-au-Prince. The gangs have also overpowered police at two of the main prisons and managed to release thousands of inmates.

"The situation is on the verge of a real collapse of any and every institution that remains in the country," he said.

(Photo: LUCKENSON JEAN/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)

De Facto PM Ariel Henry in Kenya

While violence raged on in Haiti, its de facto prime minister, Ariel Henry, traveled to Kenya last week to close the deal the African superpower committed to, which was to lead a multinational force in Haiti despite Kenyan courts delaying the deployment.

When the violence broke out, Haitian finance minister and acting prime minister Patrick Boisvert was the one who signed the emergency declaration.

At a recent press briefing, the US State Department said Henry was "returning to the country."

"We think it's important that he do so and that he be allowed to do so," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, declining to elaborate.

Kenyan Police Seen as Vital in Restoring Order

Miller also told reporters that the crisis "underscores the urgency" of finalizing the Kenyan-led mission.

Monique Clesca, who is part of a civil society group that has promoted a holistic approach to ending the Haitian crisis, said that part of the problem was that Henry had been solely focused on a military solution when he could have ordered a state of emergency from the time he came to power, allowing the police to bring the gangs under control and, at the same time, plan for elections.

"Instead, a few months after [he came to power], he went to the United Nations and said, 'Send me some troops' and then crossed his arms," she added. And that's all they did—wait and wait and wait."

Last week, Henry and Kenyan President William Ruto witnessed the signing of a bilateral agreement authorizing the deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti. The government believed that the agreement satisfied the objections of the Kenyan courts, which had stopped the deployment.

"It is a mission for humanity," Ruto said. "It is a mission in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Haiti."

Ruto added that the signing of the agreement was the "final step" and that the Kenyan police force would "be [in Haiti] at the earliest opportunity that is possible."