Haiti’s Tragic History Just Keeps Repeating Itself
Aristide finally lost his nerve, avoiding a bloodbath by arranging with American officials to flee the country. Peace was restored with the helpful arrival of about 2,000 U.S. Marines. An interim government was established in a process run by Haitians, James Foley, U.S. ambassador to Haiti in 2003 to 2005, recently recounted in a recent piece published by The Washington Post.
Today almost half of Haiti’s population is struggling to find food, clean living conditions and a sense of hope amid yet another period of chaos. The Biden administration, already struggling with other foreign and domestic crises in Gaza, Ukraine and this country’s southern border, shows little appetite to become deeply immersed in perennially troubled Haiti.
Yet, our attempts to inch away from Haiti breaks with a Caribbean relationship that dates back to the late 19th century.
Our worst move, Foley argues, was this country’s decision during the Trump administration to withdraw all U.N. military and police personnel from Haiti between 2017 and 2019. Removing a credible Haitian security force led to the progressive collapse of state institutions and opened the door to the recent anarchy in the streets.
That’s a fair point. But it’s no secret that many Americans have grown weary of trying to solve too many of the world’s problems when there’s little guarantee that we won’t make things worse.
Looking back on my own, admittedly modest, experience on the island, I was most impressed by the many Haitian business leaders and nonprofit heads with whom I met.
Haiti has many talented and resourceful people in those sectors. The Haitian diaspora, whose remittances to family members back home account for about a fifth of the nation’s gross domestic product, provide a resource of knowledge, leadership and productivity that can help the troubled island break its cycles of poverty and hopelessness, if given more of a chance.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
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