Haiti In Turmoil

Consider This from NPR

NPR

News, Daily News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2023

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Haiti, a country long besieged by political turmoil, was plunged further into chaos in 2021 when then president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated. Today, gangs run large swaths of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Schools and businesses have shuttered, food, water and gas shortages have spiraled, and Haitians desperate to leave the country have overrun immigration offices hoping for a passport.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry has been the de facto ruler since Moïse's assassination. There have not been official elections in the country since 2016. In January, its ten remaining senators left office, leaving no single regularly elected official. Henry, whose rule is heavily criticized by many Haitians, says there cannot be new elections until the country is made safer.

Amidst the chaos, calls have risen for the US to help stabilize the country, but a fraught history of US intervention in Haiti has created a climate of mistrust.

Host Michel Martin talks to Pamala White, former ambassador to Haiti, about what options are available to Haiti to quell the country's unrest.

And Marlene Daut, a professor at Yale of French and African-American studies, unpacks the history of US intervention in Haiti.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The islandation of Haiti is moving closer to the brink of collapse.
0:03.9	Bovety, unemployment, crime, political chaos, and the
0:07.9	cholera outbreak cast a shadow over the whole country.
0:11.0	Hations are dealing with shortages of food, fuel, and water, and the
0:15.6	government there is pleading for military assistance from the west.
0:19.2	This is just some of the frightening news coming out of Haiti in recent weeks.
0:23.7	Much of it at the hands of gangs who are wreaking havoc.
0:26.8	Kidnapping with impunity, staging blockades at will,
0:30.3	waging gun battles with police in broad daylight.
0:33.3	The violence has caused schools and businesses to close, creating
0:36.4	shortages of food, water, and gas.
0:39.0	Hations are pouring into immigration offices hoping for a passport
0:42.7	desperate to leave the country.
0:44.2	The UN has the estimate of 60 percent of the city's controlled by gangs.
0:49.6	If you ask Haitians there, they're going to tell you it's more like 100 percent.
0:54.1	Meghan Janski covers Cuba and the Caribbean for the associated press.
0:58.2	She says this latest violence can be traced back to the ongoing political
1:01.8	instability that Haiti has been unable to overcome since the 2021
1:06.1	killing of President Jovenel Moïse.
1:08.4	Janski recently spent two weeks in Haiti and what she found was harrowing.
1:13.1	You walk in the street and there's just a feeling that anything could happen
1:17.2	any moment, which is just how Haiti is nowadays.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.