Kenya will lead an international force of 3,000 police officers to restore order in Haiti. But what order exactly? That of bandits and incompetents.
For decades, and especially since the 2010 earthquake, Haiti's rulers have demonstrated their corruption and complete inability to rebuild the country.
The excuses are always the same: the foreigners are to blame. Those who govern Haiti are actually hiding in the shadows of the American, Canadian and French embassies.
It is a web of lies designed to excuse the politicians who run Haiti.
Who dares to talk about foreign traders, especially Lebanese ones, who monopolize a large part of retail in the country's cities?
Who denounces a Catholic Church that promotes reproduction on this overpopulated island?
Who is talking about the drug and weapons smuggling involving Haitian politicians?
But above all: How can we excuse the lack of elections and the consolidation of the dictatorship of Ariel Henry, the interim prime minister of Haiti?
- Listen to international political expert Loïc Tassé on Benoit Dutrizac's show QUB :
Uniform gangs
Jimmy Chérisier, a former police officer turned gang leader, has just announced that he has managed to unite the gangs that rule Port-au-Prince.
He asks Ariel Henry to leave.
Under his leadership, Haitian gangs attacked the capital's main prison and freed many of the gang leaders languishing there.
Chérisier has other strategic goals. He's obviously trying to take over the airport and get as many weapons as possible. That's why he attacks police stations.
The gangs don't want the planes that would transport the police to land in Haiti. They are ready to fight together against outside forces.
In order to properly fight against gangs, it would take more than just police officers, it would need an army.
But who would protect these foreign forces? Other bandits, bandits with ties, grouped around Ariel Henry.
Photo AFP
Bad choose
Canada and other countries that support sending police officers to Haiti are making the wrong choice.
Between bandits in relationships who don't have the courage to take to the streets to fight and gang leaders who face the brutality of harsh conditions, the latter is preferable to the former. They know how to organize themselves.
And above all, Chérisier seems to harbor the ideal of restoring an effective political order. In addition, he is supported by the party of former President Jovenel Moïse, who was assassinated in 2021.
The best way to solve the problem in Haiti is to let Haitians deal with it themselves. The fighting between the gangs is definitely terrible. But when it's over – and it could be now – a group strong enough to rule Haiti will emerge. A group we can help.
In the meantime, it is better not to intervene directly.