This is Brian Lair's daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios.

It's Tuesday, July 13th.

I'm Bridget Bergen from the WNYC and Gothamist Newsroom, filling in for Brian Lair,

to start an update on the ongoing situation

in Haiti after the assassination of their president last week. Last Wednesday, Brian spoke to

Gary Pierre-Pierre of the Haitian Times about the breaking news. It's been almost a week since then,

and over 20 people have been arrested for the murder. We'll hear more about that.

The Biden administration has also responded to a request for reinforcements and has sent

a team of FBI and Homeland Security officials to Haiti, but refused to send requested

military assistance for now.

Haiti's troubled history goes deep, from colonialism to

independence, then years of occupation and crushing debt, plus suffering more than two decades

of brutal dictatorship in just the last 200 years. Then after a powerful earthquake devastated

the country in 2010, an influx of foreign aid and peacekeeping forces appeared to only worsen the country's woes and instability.

Joining us now to look at Haiti's history and how it can inform what's happening now is Marleney Doubt, Professor of African Studies and African-American Studies at the University of

Virginia. She specializes in Caribbean, U.S. African-American, and French colonial literary and

historical studies. Also from Haiti is Catherine Porter, Toronto Bureau Chief of the New York Times,

and author of A Girl Named

Lovely about the experience in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

Thank you for joining us, Professor Doubt and Catherine.

Welcome to WNYC.

Thank you for having it.

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