In 2024, on March 8, from New York City, it was disclosed that a significant number of people in Port-au-Prince, Haiti were displaced following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. This has caused the national community to grapple with acute shortages in food, water, and medication. The country has also experienced continued community terror and around five thousand killings by heavily armed gangs in the past three years, according to the United Nations.
The situation developed into a civil war over the past fortnight, with organized gangs causing civil unrest by releasing thousands of dangerous inmates from two prisons and attacking government buildings, airports, and police stations. Deaths and instability are ramping at an unprecedented pace.
Dr. Ariel Henry’s administration has struggled to effectively address the escalating issues of insecurity and gang violence. It is called upon that Prime Minister Ariel Henry steps down promptly, to allow for a neutral and newly established organization, backed by all sectors of Haitian society including the diaspora community, to implement explicit mandates like nationwide security and the organization of free and fair electoral process.
An appeal is being made for international community support, especially from the United States, for the development of the transitional government. This includes providing crucial humanitarian help alongside the deployment of a skilled police force to back, equip, and train the country’s police together with the Haitian Military.
The call includes an urgent plea for the US to prevent the illegal flow of arms and ammunition from reaching violent gangs that have terrorized countless innocent lives. Dr. Georges J. Casimir, President of the Haitian Diaspora Political Action Committee (HDPAC), stresses the urgency of the situation, “The time for talks has come and passed. This is a time for decisive actions, and a new transitional government is the first step towards avoiding an all-out civil war in Haiti.”
HDPAC combined with all well-intentioned individuals for the establishment of a better democracy in Haiti. Retired Lt. General Russell Honoré agreed to serve as an advisor to aid in reinstituting Haitian security.
David L. Alexis, President of the Office of the Haitian Diaspora (ODIHA), stated, “We in the Haitian Diaspora anticipated the worsening of the situation in Haiti; that is why in 2022 we held the Diaspora Unity Summit in Louisiana at Southern University in Baton Rouge, to bring all parties involved together and address the crisis.”
HDPAC and ODIHA urge the Biden administration and specifically the U.S. State Department to support the transitional government actively. Additionally, they recommend the extension of Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for undocumented Haitians, and the halt of deportations back to Haiti.
It is hoped that the international community will permit Haitians to decide their own leaders in the future transitional government of the second oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere without interference or unneeded foreign intervention.
