While the country collapses, Haitian elites engage in power struggles

As the Haitian population endures one of the most violent crises in its recent history — marked by rampant insecurity, the collapse of public institutions, economic paralysis, and an unprecedented exodus — its leaders seem more concerned with their personal quarrels than with the collective survival of the nation. For several months, political alliances have been forming and dissolving within the circles of power, not around a national project or a crisis exit strategy, but according to individual ambitions and struggles for influence. Each political bloc seems more concerned with consolidating its position than with assuming its responsibilities towards an abandoned people. Official meetings are often the scene of sterile rivalries, where the priority is neither security, nor the revival of basic services, much less the organization of credible elections. Instead, officials are seen accusing each other of illegitimacy or betrayal, while hospitals lack everything, and the streets are left to armed gangs. This drift is all the more shocking as the Haitian people pay the price of this disconnection every day. In popular neighborhoods, families live in constant fear, without access to drinking water, electricity, or medical care. Children no longer go to school. The few businesses still standing are fleeing an unbearable climate of insecurity. And meanwhile, political leaders are bogged down in a power game that cynically ignores the humanitarian and institutional emergency. The contrast is striking: on one side, a bruised, impoverished, and disillusioned people; on the other, elites trapped in their calculations, refusing all self-criticism, incapable of uniting around a common vision. The void of national leadership is measured not only in missed actions, but also in silence in the face of citizens' pain. It is a resounding political and moral failure. Haiti does not need yet another superficial compromise between rival clans. It needs a surge of responsibility, courageous leadership, and a real commitment to serving the general interest. As long as Haitian leaders prioritize their egos over the nation, the country will continue to sink. And history will remember that while the people cried out for food and demanded justice, their representatives were busy squabbling over the ruins of power. By Gesly Sinvilier