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Haitian People Demand that THEY Choose Government – not US

“… The airport in Port-Au-Prince is currently under siege and President Ariel Henry is not being allowed to return to the country. People are demanding Henry’s resignation and new elections. Henry had been on a trip to Kenya to counter the growing opposition to that country’s direction of a new invasion force proposed by US President Joe Biden. At last report….

Corporate media and US government spokespersons try to dismiss what is happening in Haiti as a crisis caused by ‘violent gangs.’ This is a severe oversimplification of the problem that only serves the interests of those who wish to exploit and control Haiti for their own ends…. Haiti is suffering from chaos generated by foreign occupation and criminal and paramilitaries groups sponsored by Haiti’s oligarchy and business and political leaders propped in power with US aid….

But the other side of the story is that there is massive popular resistance going on. Haiti is experiencing an uprising for real democracy and an end to foreign control. The demands that Henry resign, that Haitians be allowed to hold free elections, and that US sponsored invasions and occupations must end are not the demands of “gangs,” but of the people.

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The following statement was originally published by the Black Alliance for Peace on their website’s Haiti/Americas page:

BAP Backgrounder: Haiti Behind the Headlines

March 11, 2024

Haiti is in the headlines again and, as usual, the headlines on Haiti are mostly negative.
They are also largely false. Haiti, they tell us, is overrun by “gang violence.” Haiti is “a
failed state,” standing on the verge of “anarchy” and teetering on the edge of “collapse.”
Haiti, they tell us, can only be stabilized and saved through foreign military invasion and
occupation. We have seen these stories before. We know their purpose. They serve to
cover up the true origins of the “crisis” in Haiti while justifying foreign military
intervention and setting up an attack on Haiti’s sovereignty.

What is the reality behind the headlines? The reality is that the crisis in Haiti is a crisis
of imperialism. Those countries calling for military intervention – the US, France,
Canada – have created the conditions making military intervention appear necessary
and inevitable. The same countries calling for intervention are the same countries that
will benefit from intervention, not the Haitian people. And for twenty years, those
countries that cast Haiti as a failed state actively worked to destroy Haiti’s government
while imposing foreign colonial rule.

On Haiti, the position of the Black Alliance for Peace has been consistent and clear. We
reject the sensationalist headlines in the Western media with their racist assumptions
that Haiti is ungovernable, and the Haitian people cannot govern themselves. We
support the efforts of the Haitian people to assert their sovereignty and reclaim their
country. We denounce the ongoing imperialist onslaught on Haiti and demand the
removal of Haiti’s foreign, colonial rulers.

What’s Going on in Haiti?

● The crisis in Haiti is a crisis of imperialism – but what does this mean? It means
that the failure of governance in Haiti is not something internal to Haiti, but it is

aresult of the concerted effort on the part of the west to gut the Haitian state and
destroy popular democracy in Haiti.
● Haiti is currently under occupation by the US/UN and Core Group, a
self-appointed cabal of foreign entities who effectively rule this country.
● The occupation of Haiti began in 2004 with the US/France/Canada-sponsored
coup d’état against Haiti’s democratically elected president. The coup d’etat was
approved by the UN Security Council. It established an occupying military force
(euphemistically called a “peacekeeping” mission), with the acronym
MINUSTAH. Though the MINUSTAH mission officially ended in 2017, the UN
office in Haiti was reconstituted as BIHUH. BINUH, along with the Core Group,
continues to have a powerful role in Haitian affairs.
● Over the past four years, the Haitian masses have mobilized and protested
against an illegal government, imperial meddling, the removal of fuel subsidies
leading to rising costs of living, and insecurity by elite-funded armed groups.
However, these protests have been snuffed out by the US-installed puppet
government.
● Since 2021, attempts to control Haiti by the US have intensified. In that year,
Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse was assassinated and Ariel Henry was installed
by the US and UN Core Group as the de facto prime minister. In the wake of the
assassination of Moïse and the installation of Henry, the U.S. has sought to build
a coalition of foreign states willing to send military forces to occupy Haiti, and to
deal with Haiti’s ostensible “gang” problem.
● The armed groups (the so-called “gangs”) mainly in the capital city of Haiti
should be understood as “paramilitary” forces, as they are made up of former
(and current) Haitian police and military elements. These paramilitary forces are
known to work for some of Haiti’s elite, including, some say, Ariel Henry (Haiti’s
former de facto prime minister). It should also be noted that Haiti does not
manufacture guns; the guns and ammunition come primarily from the US and
the Dominican Republic; and the US has consistently rejected calls for an arms
embargo.
● Moreover, as Haitian organizations have demonstrated, it is the UN and Core
Group occupation that has enabled the “gangsterization” of the country. When we
speak of “gangs,” we must recognize that the real and most powerful gangs in the
country are the US, the Core Group, and the illegal UN office in Haiti – all of
whom helped to create the current crisis.

● Most recently, Ariel Henry traveled to Kenya to sign an agreement with Kenya
prime minister William Ruto authorizing the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police
officers as the head of a multinational military force whose ostensible purpose
was to combat Haiti’s gang violence. But the US strategy for Haiti appears to have
collapsed as Henry has been unable to return to Haiti and there is renewed
challenge to the constitutionality of that deployment.

● The US is now scrambling for control, seeking to force Henry’s resignation while
looking for a new puppet to serve as a figurehead for foreign rule of Haiti. While
Haiti currently does not have a government, it has not descended into chaos or
anarchy. The paramilitaries, it seems, are waiting for their orders to act, while the
US strategy for Haiti is in crisis.

Why Haiti?

For BAP, the historic struggles of the Haitian people to combat slavery, colonialism, and
imperialism have been crucial to the struggles of African people throughout the globe.
The attacks on Black sovereignty in Haiti are replicated in the attacks on Black people
throughout the Americas. Today, Haiti is important for U.S. geopolitical and economic
viability. Haiti is in a key location in the Caribbean for US military and security strategy
in the region, especially in light of the coming US confrontation with China and in the
context of the strategic implementation of the Global Fragilities Act. Haiti’s economic
importance stems from what western corporations perceive as a vast pool of cheap
labor, and its unexploited land and mineral wealth.
BAP’S Position on the Current Situation in Haiti

● BAP, as with many Haitian and other organizations, have consistently argued
against a renewed foreign military intervention.
● We have persistently demanded the end of the foreign occupation of Haiti. This
includes the dissolution of the Core Group, the UN office in Haiti (BINHU), and
the end of the constant meddling of the US, along with its junior partners,
CARICOM, and Brazil’s Lula.
● We have denounced the governments of the Community of Latin American and
Caribbean States (CELAC) (with the exception of Venezuela and Cuba), for
supporting US plans for armed intervention in Haiti and the denial of Haitian
sovereignty.
● We have denounced CARICOM leaders, and especially Barbados Prime Minister,
Mia Mottley, for not only supporting US planned armed intervention in Haiti and
offering their police and soldiers for the mission, but for also following US and
Core Group dictates on the way forward in Haiti. Haiti’s solutions should come
from Haitian people through broad consensus. CARICOM leaders cannot claim to
be helping Haiti when they are acting as neo-colonial stooges of the US and the
Core Group.
● We have denounced the role of Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva,
for not only continuing Brazil’s role in the Core Group, but for also leading the
charge, along with the criminal US government, for foreign armed military
invasion of Haiti. We remind everyone that it was Lula’s government that led the

military wing of the 2004 violent UN occupation of Haiti. Brazil’s soldiers led the
mission for 13 years (until 2017).
● In solidarity with Haitian groups, we have denounced the UN approved,
US-funded, Kenyan-led foreign armed invasion and occupation of Haiti. We are
adamant that a U.S./UN-led armed foreign intervention in Haiti is not only
illegitimate, but illegal. We support Haitian people and civil society organizations
who have been consistent in their opposition to foreign armed military
intervention – and who have argued that the problems of Haiti are a direct result
of the persistent and long-term meddling of the United States, the United
Nations, and the Core Group.
● We demand US accountability for flooding Haiti with military grade weapons. We
demand that the US enforce the UN-stated arms embargo against the Haitian and
U.S. elite who import guns into the country.
● We will continue to support our comrades as they fight for a free and sovereign
Haiti.
Long live Haiti!