Who Failed in Haiti?
By La Rédaction · Port-au-Prince
· 4 min read · Updated 24 April 2026
Translated from French — AI-assisted and reviewed by the editorial team. The French version is authoritative. Read the original · About our translation policy
Today, it must be acknowledged, with all shame swallowed, that Haiti has become a failed state. The grand project of building a democratic society after the collapse of Duvalier's power has remained an illusion. No democracy can be established without democrats. Political parties, which should be tools for political transformation, are in reality, merely a reservoir of autocrats and the hungry for the most part, with an intellectual, patriotic, and even ideological deficit. And civil society is largely an inextricable tangle of wealthy merchants of foreign origin and a collection of professionals beholden to NGOs who watch for opportunities to assault political power. This is a sad reality that I describe with brutal frankness.
The crisis. Let's assign responsibilities.
The current situation is pathetic. From the CNG to the CPT, the decline is appalling; chaos has been constructed by the elites, not without the support or blessing of the international community. But the prize goes to the nine rogues who make up the Presidential Council, the most dismal and costly presidency to the public treasury in all national history, with no results. They will undoubtedly leave soon in dishonor, and I am happy to be unable to predict their personal destiny. CARICOM cannot be proud of the overwhelming result of its CPT, born in the test tubes of the sad Summit of March 11, 2024. As for the United Nations, the disappointment must be great given the performance of the MMSS, ridiculed by terrorist bandits with each capture of “an armored vehicle,” this inappropriate equipment deployed on a battlefield. I have always known that it is soldiers who wage war. Alas! This is why Benin refused to deploy its soldiers under police command. No one is thinking of strong reinforcement for the FADH and the Haitian National Police within the framework of bilateral or multilateral cooperation. Who should be blamed? The primary responsibility for the failure of the 1986-2026 management, soon forty years, lies first with Haitians. Even if I like to reread this note from August 8, 2022, from the Organization of American States which states: “the last 20 years of the international community's presence in Haiti constitute one of the most significant and manifest failures of measures implemented and actions carried out within the framework of any international cooperation action whatsoever…We are talking about the fact that in 20 years of erroneous political strategy, the international community has not been able to facilitate the construction of a single institution capable of responding to the problems of Haitians… Under the umbrella of the international community, the criminal gangs that today besiege the country and its people have fermented and germinated.” I refuse to comment on this objective indictment by the OAS. However, it is clear that the Biden administration had a very poor reading of the Haitian situation, and its inaction or inappropriate action fostered the rise of anti-Americanism in the country. Its support for Prime Minister Henri for more than three years and its blessing of the CPT amount to a diplomatic catastrophe. Ambassador Daniel Lewis Foote, former special envoy of the American President, will not say otherwise. Moreover, with all due respect to the intelligence agencies of the major Western capitals, Haiti has become, right under the nose of the world's leading power, a hub where a criminal economy has developed with intense activity from drug cartels and human trafficking, international terrorism, integrist fundamentalism, and radical elements that covertly cooperate with national political extremists. The Haitian crisis has long been internationalized, but it is the population that pays with its blood for the misguided maneuvers of inept strategists.
Geopolitically, through its chronic instability, the growth of its miserable situation, and the progression of street and salon terrorist gangs, the Haitian Republic could be a threat to the stability of the sub-region of the Americas. A thorn in the side of the West. Solving the crisis. There is no miracle solution. With this widespread banditry that has turned into a new kind of terrorism, with a desperate attempt at political connotation, we are looking at about ten years within the framework of rigorous, enlightened, progressive governance for a return to the tranquility of the 80s-90s. Immediately, it would be necessary to block the expansion of the gangs and unblock the main roads. But the problem is not only military. The causes are deep and multiple: social exclusion, unemployment, the absence of the State in marginal areas, idleness among young people, the depravation of society, the impoverishment of the peasantry, political delinquency, generalized corruption, to name just a few. It is clear that the CPT is part of the problem. If by the beginning of April there is no change in leadership for new political governance through a Provisional President and an Exceptional Mission Government, the worst is yet to come. March 27, 2025
Dr. Emmanuel Ménard
The current situation is pathetic. From the CNG to the CPT, the decline is appalling; chaos has been constructed by the elites, not without the support or blessing of the international community. But the prize goes to the nine rogues who make up the Presidential Council, the most dismal and costly presidency to the public treasury in all national history, with no results. They will undoubtedly leave soon in dishonor, and I am happy to be unable to predict their personal destiny. CARICOM cannot be proud of the overwhelming result of its CPT, born in the test tubes of the sad Summit of March 11, 2024. As for the United Nations, the disappointment must be great given the performance of the MMSS, ridiculed by terrorist bandits with each capture of “an armored vehicle,” this inappropriate equipment deployed on a battlefield. I have always known that it is soldiers who wage war. Alas! This is why Benin refused to deploy its soldiers under police command. No one is thinking of strong reinforcement for the FADH and the Haitian National Police within the framework of bilateral or multilateral cooperation. Who should be blamed? The primary responsibility for the failure of the 1986-2026 management, soon forty years, lies first with Haitians. Even if I like to reread this note from August 8, 2022, from the Organization of American States which states: “the last 20 years of the international community's presence in Haiti constitute one of the most significant and manifest failures of measures implemented and actions carried out within the framework of any international cooperation action whatsoever…We are talking about the fact that in 20 years of erroneous political strategy, the international community has not been able to facilitate the construction of a single institution capable of responding to the problems of Haitians… Under the umbrella of the international community, the criminal gangs that today besiege the country and its people have fermented and germinated.” I refuse to comment on this objective indictment by the OAS. However, it is clear that the Biden administration had a very poor reading of the Haitian situation, and its inaction or inappropriate action fostered the rise of anti-Americanism in the country. Its support for Prime Minister Henri for more than three years and its blessing of the CPT amount to a diplomatic catastrophe. Ambassador Daniel Lewis Foote, former special envoy of the American President, will not say otherwise. Moreover, with all due respect to the intelligence agencies of the major Western capitals, Haiti has become, right under the nose of the world's leading power, a hub where a criminal economy has developed with intense activity from drug cartels and human trafficking, international terrorism, integrist fundamentalism, and radical elements that covertly cooperate with national political extremists. The Haitian crisis has long been internationalized, but it is the population that pays with its blood for the misguided maneuvers of inept strategists.
Geopolitically, through its chronic instability, the growth of its miserable situation, and the progression of street and salon terrorist gangs, the Haitian Republic could be a threat to the stability of the sub-region of the Americas. A thorn in the side of the West. Solving the crisis. There is no miracle solution. With this widespread banditry that has turned into a new kind of terrorism, with a desperate attempt at political connotation, we are looking at about ten years within the framework of rigorous, enlightened, progressive governance for a return to the tranquility of the 80s-90s. Immediately, it would be necessary to block the expansion of the gangs and unblock the main roads. But the problem is not only military. The causes are deep and multiple: social exclusion, unemployment, the absence of the State in marginal areas, idleness among young people, the depravation of society, the impoverishment of the peasantry, political delinquency, generalized corruption, to name just a few. It is clear that the CPT is part of the problem. If by the beginning of April there is no change in leadership for new political governance through a Provisional President and an Exceptional Mission Government, the worst is yet to come. March 27, 2025
Dr. Emmanuel Ménard
