Haiti Report, July 9, 2025
A compilation of news about Haiti from the past week.
Trump Administration announced end of TPS for Haitians in September; Federal judge rules in favor of Haitians with TPS, restores February 2026 deadline
In a Department of Homeland Security Notice on August 3, the Trump Administration announced the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians living in the US, to take effect on September 2, 2025. “This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures the Temporary Protected Status is actually temporary,” DPS officials said on Friday in a news release. “The environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home,” the DHS release continues. DHS officials said Haitian citizens can use the department’s mobile app to arrange their return to Haiti.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article309633360.html#storylink=cpy
A New York federal judge has ruled in favor of Haitians with temporary legal status in the United States, deciding on Tuesday that the Trump administration was wrong in deciding to cut short their end date by six months. U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan’s ruling means that Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status designation should return to its original February 2026 date, giving more than a half-million Haitian nationals with TPS more time to shield themselves against losing their work permits and deportation protections in the United States. Cogan found that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem exceeded her authority when she shaved off six months from the 18-month TPS extension that the prior Biden administration had granted to Haitian nationals. “Secretary Noem’s [decision] was in excess of her authority and was thus unlawful,” Cogan wrote, noting that he was granting partial summary judgment to the Haitian immigrants who challenged her because they “are likely to prevail on the merits” in their lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. “Plaintiffs have also shown they will suffer irreparable injury without postponement” of the Trump administration’s TPS end date for Haitian immigrants, Cogan added. In his ruling, Cogan also partly denied the administration’s motion to dismiss the Haitian immigrants’ lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of New York.
“We are appreciative of the judge’s recognition that Secretary Kristi Noem and the Trump administration engaged in illegal conduct when they vacated part of the 18 months that had been given to Haitians under the Biden administration,” said Ira Kurzban, a Miami immigration attorney who is among the lawyers that brought the lawsuit. “This means that Haitians’ TPS is restored to the original 18 months until February 2026.”
Protest against Alligator Alcatraz & immigration policies at ICE facility were Haitian woman died
For the two days, protestors took to the streets of South Florida to speak out against the Trump administration's immigration policies. This comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) received additional funding from the president's "big, beautiful bill" and after a new ICE detention center opened in the Florida Everglades this week. Protestors lined up outside the Broward Transitional Center on Saturday, which is where 44-year-old Marie Ange Blaise died while in ICE custody on April 25. Immigration officials said she had entered the U.S. without permission. The cause of her death is under investigation.
"We wanna make sure those things don't happen again to our children [and] to other immigrants," said organizer Widline Pierre. "We wanna make sure those things are preventable." Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick attended the protest, saying she wants a hearing to find out why Blaise died. ICE's website said seven people have died in its custody so far this year. "We also need to take a good look at what's going on within the facilities," the congresswoman said. "Right after she died we came to this facility and we looked at it. And we tried to speak to some of the medical personnel and they were very evasive. And they said that they would be providing us with information that we still have not received." Pierre said she feels immigrants are being treated unfairly.
"What they're doing is not about enforcing the rules; it's about belittling the immigration communities," Pierre said. "We're being bullied." The protesters here were also speaking out against the new ICE detention facility down in the Everglades: Alligator Alcatraz. It was put together in about eight days, and the first group of migrants was sent to the facility this week.
Two police officers killed in Artibonite and Kenscoff
Two police officers were killed during operations carried out in the commune of Kenscoff and in Artibonite last weekend. The police officer killed in Artibonite was a Utag (Temporary Anti-Gang Unit) officer, whose identity has not yet been revealed. He was killed during armed clashes in Charrier, a town near Désarmes, not far from Saint-Marc. In Kenscoff, on the night of July 5-6, a police patrol was attacked by bandits near Viard. Several SWATT officers were injured in the attack. Police officer Olrich Joseph succumbed to his injuries in a hospital. A police armored vehicle was set on fire by the criminals who posted a video of their attack on social media. Contacted by Le Nouvelliste, a spokesperson for the Haitian National Police reported that there had been clashes in Kenscoff, without providing much detail. "There was damage on both sides," the source briefly stated.
https://lenouvelliste.com/article/257851/deux-policiers-tues-dans-lartibonite-et-a-kenscoff
Gangs burn down Haiti’s iconic Hotel Oloffson, host to stars and writers
Haiti’s storied Hotel Oloffson, a favorite haunt of writers and artists that survived dictatorship, coups and a devastating earthquake and was immortalized in novelist Graham Greene’s “The Comedians,” is no more. After months of resisting gang threats and attacks that forced thousands in its surrounding Carrefour Feuilles neighborhood to abandon their homes and flee, the landmark hotel overlooking Haiti’s capital was “burned to the ground” the evening of July 5 into Sunday morning, July 6. The hotel’s burning was confirmed to the Miami Herald by proprietor Richard A. Morse, who also announced the destruction on X, after drone images began circulating showing its hollowed out structure.
The culprits: members of the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, who had been using the sprawling hotel as a base for their takeover of Port-au-Prince and have been fighting with Haitian national police officers. Another source who confirmed the hotel’s destruction said it was among several places in the area gangs burned during the confrontation with police, which intensified on Saturday afternoon. “Losing the Oloffson reflects the incompetence of Haiti’s oligarchs, the Haitian government, the United Nations as well as the French and American governments,” said Morse, an outspoken critic of Haiti’s wave of crises and ongoing political instability.
Built in the late 19th Century, the Oloffson was initially a private home owned by the Sam family, who lived there until President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam in 1915 was lynched by an angry mob in the streets of Port-au-Prince. Sam had only been president for five months at the time of his death, which triggered a U.S. military intervention and a 19-year occupation of Haiti by U.S. marines. Until President Jovenel Moïse’s equally brazen slaying four years ago, on July 7, 2021, Sam had been the last Haitian president to be assassinated. During the U.S. occupation, the Oloffson was used by the marines as a hospital, and following the departure of American forces in 1934, it was converted into a hotel in 1935. In 1960, Al Seitz, a New Yorker, became proprietor of the what was then called the “Ginger Bread” Grand Hotel Oloffson, and he transformed it into a haven for both local and visiting celebrities whose names graced the hotel’s rooms. In addition to Jagger and Greene, another draw was the Aubelin Jolicoeur room, named after the Haitian gossip columnist on whom Greene based his character Petit Pierre in “The Comedians.” The Oloffson itself served as a muse for Greene’s fictional Trianon Hotel in “The Comedians,” which tells a tale of treachery and the absurdity of Haiti amid the rule of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier. The hotel was also the setting for the 1967 film “The Comedians,” starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, in which Burton portrayed the hotel manager. Seitz died in 1982 at the age of 64 of cancer, and years later Morse took over.
The demise of the Oloffson follows a similar attack on The Lodge, a popular hotel in the hills above Port-au-Prince. The destruction is part of an alarming rise of violence against private homes and businesses by armed gangs that began ramping up their attacks at the beginning of the year.
The hotel’s wooden latticework, turrets and spires made it a classic example of the gingerbread Caribbean architectural style of homes that adorned some older residential parts of Haiti’s capital. “I can’t describe the sadness and rage about the destruction of our patrimony,” Frederick Mangonès, a Haitian architect, said about the loss of the Oloffson. “There’s no respect for human life or history.” The gingerbread school emerged in the 19th century from a movement of architects studying in France who were inspired to design tropical-style mansions. “Haitian gingerbread is very vertical and whimsical with high ceilings and wooden verandas,” Mr. Mangonès said.
While the Oloffson stood as a welcoming beacon to foreigners and Haiti’s cultural and intellectual elite, it was also a symbol of Haiti’s yawning social divide, surrounded by streets crowded with poor street merchants and beggars. Despite the hotel’s precarious existence, guests could always count on cheerful staff serving local Creole dishes of conch and goat with a traditional pumpkin soup, on the dozen tables laid out along the palm-shaded terrace overlooking a lush garden and swimming pool.
The hotel had not been accepting guests for more than a year because of the violence. Mr. Morse said a skeleton staff of three was forced to flee this year “when the shooting got so bad.” He was last able to visit the hotel in January, ignoring warnings that the area had become too dangerous. Though he feels bereft over the hotel’s demise, Mr. Morse said that the loss pales in comparison to the widespread suffering of ordinary Haitians. “People are getting killed, people are getting raped,” he said, “losing everything. I can’t be crying about a building.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/world/americas/haiti-oloffson-hotel-fire-port-au-prince.html?unlocked_article_code=1.U08.dEul.FGunAwtSxRR-&smid=url-share
Haiti’s gangs have ‘near-total control’ of the capital as violence escalates, UN says
Haiti’s gangs have gained “near-total control” of the capital and authorities are unable to stop escalating violence across the impoverished Caribbean nation, senior U.N. officials warned Wednesday. An estimated 90% of the capital Port-au-Prince is now under control of criminal groups who are expanding attacks not only into surrounding areas but beyond into previously peaceful areas, Ghada Fathy Waly, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told the U.N. Security Council.
“Southern Haiti, which until recently was insulated from the violence, has seen a sharp increase in gang-related incidents,” she said. “And in the east, criminal groups are exploiting land routes, including key crossings like Belladere and Malpasse, where attacks against police and customs officials have been reported.” Waly said the state’s authority to govern is rapidly shrinking as gang control expands with cascading effects. Criminal groups are stepping into the vacuum left by the absence or limited delivery of public services and are establishing “parallel governance structures,” and gang control of major trade routes has paralyzed legal commerce, leading to soaring prices for cooking fuel and rice, Haiti’s staple food, she said.
U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca told the council “the ongoing gang encirclement of Port-au-Prince” and their strengthened foothold in the capital and beyond is “pushing the situation closer to the brink.” In response to the gangs, the UNODC’s Waly said there has been a rapid growth in the number and activities of private security companies and vigilante self-defense groups, with some trying to protect their communities while others act illegally and collude with gangs. “Over the last three months,” Jenca said, “these groups reportedly killed at least 100 men and one woman suspected of gang association or collaboration.”
He said the last three months have also seen an increase in sexual violence by gangs with the U.N. political mission in Haiti documenting 364 incidents of sexual violence involving 378 survivors just from March to April. A new report by U.N. experts covering the period from last October through February said the gangs have exploited political turmoil and the disorganized response to Haiti’s security crisis, pointing to competing political ambitions and allegations of corruption within Haiti’s transitional governing bodies that have stymied action.
“While the expansion of territorial control brings gangs additional sources of revenue and bargaining power,” the experts said, “these attacks are also backed by individuals trying to destabilize the political transition for their own political goals.” One major result is that very little progress has been made toward restoring public security or implementing the roadmap for organizing national elections by February 2026, the experts monitoring an arms embargo on Haiti and sanctions against key gang leaders said in the report to the Security Council.
As for vigilante groups, the experts said, they “often include local police officers, some of whom actively participate in human rights violations.” The Haitian National Police have also carried out “a worrying number of extrajudicial killings … with suspected gang members often summarily executed,” the experts said, pointing to 281 summary executions by specialized police units in 2024 including 22 women and 8 children. Despite the U.N. arms embargo on Haiti, gangs continue to obtain more powerful weapons not only from regional civilian markets but from police stockpiles in Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic, the experts said.
Lascahobas, strategic community under attack from armed groups
Following the takeover of the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets, armed gangs quickly seized control of a large portion of the commune of Ganthier. About a year ago, the “400 Mawozo” gang set fire to the Ganthier police station and destroyed other buildings in the town center. On Friday, May 23, 2025, the Malpasse customs post, located in Fonds-Parisien, a communal section of Ganthier, fell under the control of heavily armed individuals who set up a ransom checkpoint there. Armed gangs have not limited their conquest to the national capital. They have taken over territories in the Artibonite department. But in recent months, their focus has turned to the Centre department. On Thursday, April 3, 2025, the commune of Saut-d’Eau in the Mirebalais district was stormed by the armed gang coalition “Viv Ansanm” after several months of resistance. Unfortunately, Ville-Bonheur will not be able to celebrate the famous Mont Carmel festival on July 16.
During the night of March 31, 2025, the “Viv Ansanm” gang coalition—through the 400 Mawozo gang and the Canaan gang—attacked the town of Mirebalais, targeting the police station and the civil prison, releasing more than 500 detainees. Armed gangs subsequently took up positions in several strategic areas, including the rooftops of prominent buildings and the national high school, quickly imposing territorial control despite police resistance, supported by the population. Three months later, beginning on Thursday, July 3, 2025, the same armed gangs launched an operation to seize the town of Lascahobas. Fortunately, the population continues to resist alongside the security forces. With Lascahobas in their sights, the armed gangs appear to be targeting other border towns in the Centre department. The town of Belladère, home to the Elías Piña / Belladère customs post on the Haiti–Dominican Republic border, is located about fifty kilometers from Lascahobas. It is the third most important commercial crossing on the Haiti–Dominican Republic border, after Jimaní/Malpasse and Ouanaminthe/Dajabón. Notably, Lascahobas can serve as a link between the Centre, North, and Northeast departments, where the Ouanaminthe/Dajabón customs post is located.
In an unprecedented security crisis, Haiti is witnessing its border areas and strategic corridors gradually fall under the control of armed gangs. If the commune of Lascahobas were to be captured, the consequences would be dramatic—both economically and geopolitically. The commune of Lascahobas is located near the border with the Dominican Republic. It is an important crossing point for both formal and informal trade between the two countries. Its seizure by armed gangs would disrupt significant commercial flows, including food products and construction materials—but most critically, the smuggling of weapons, ammunition, and other illicit substances. This would increase pressure on Haitian-Dominican relations, already tense, and risk escalation and even complete border closure.
Strategically, authorities should have protected the Central Plateau at all costs to prevent this connection between armed gangs and the North and Northeast. A central point of this protection strategy would have been the reinforcement of the Terre Rouge Police Station after Morne-à-Cabrits. Due to its geographic position, this station was easier to defend and would have made it more difficult for armed gangs to storm the Centre department. Unfortunately, that station has been under the control of armed gangs since February 2024.
It is also worth noting that armed gangs had previously attempted to control maritime traffic between Port-au-Prince and the Côte des Arcadins, which stretches over at least twenty kilometers of idyllic beach. The maritime route would also give them access to the Greater South through the Greater North.
Everything suggests that the armed gang coalition has a well-structured territorial conquest strategy. The disunity and improvisation evident at the highest levels of the State have given them a clear path to carry out their plan.
Haitian capital ‘paralysed and isolated’ by gang violence, Security Council hears
More than 1.3 million people have been displaced in Haiti as surging gang violence, lawlessness, and impunity expose the population – especially women and girls – to heightened risks of exploitation and sexual violence. Since January, the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), recorded over 4,000 individuals deliberately killed – a 24 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024.
“The capital city was for all intents and purposes paralysed by gangs and isolated due to the ongoing suspension of international commercial flights into the international airport,” Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for the Americas at the department of political affairs (DPPA), told ambassadors in the Security Council on Wednesday. Having visited the country recently, he warned that, gangs have only “strengthened their foothold”, which now affects all communes of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and beyond, “pushing the situation closer to the brink.” He called on the international community to act decisively and urgently or the “total collapse of state presence in the capital could become a very real scenario”.
Meanwhile, the broader deterioration of the security and economic situation in the capital and the rest of the country continues to fuel a sharper escalation in human rights violations. Despite persistent under-reporting of sexual violence due to fear of reprisals, social stigma and lack of trust in institutions, BINUH reported an increase in sexual violence committed by gangs in the past three months. In May, Haitian police raided a medical facility in Pétion-Ville suspected of being involved in illicit organ trade, as allegations of trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal are now arising. As the situation in Haiti remains desperate, “there is not a moment to lose,” Mr. Jenča urged.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165246
Corruption, Trafficking, Armed Gangs - Chaos as a Strategy for Profit in Haiti
Forbidden Stories published a series of investigations exposing the predators in power behind Haiti’s collapse in partnership with Ayibopost
In Haiti, the murder of a journalist who denounced corruption and a prosecutor above the law: Haitian journalist Gary Tesse was murdered in October 2022. The man allegedly responsible is former Les Cayes prosecutor Ronald Richemond, who is also accused of seizing large tracts of land, which he then resold to enrich himself. Forbidden Stories continued Tesse’s investigation, uncovering the methods Richemond used to steal land in the region with complete impunity. https://forbiddenstories.org/haiti-murder-journalist-corruption/
The Port-au-Prince hospital massacre: A symbol of the relentless advance of armed gangs in Haiti: On Dec. 24, 2024, the 5 Segond gang attacked Port-au-Prince’s General Hospital during its reopening ceremony after a ten-month closure. Two journalists were killed and seven others injured. This massacre highlights the extreme risks faced by reporters in Haiti and reveals how armed groups are using drones for both military operations and propaganda. https://forbiddenstories.org/hospital-gangs-haiti/
Smuggling, ill-gotten gains and suspected ties to gangs: In Haiti, the shady dealings of former senator Rony Célestin: In 2019, Haitian journalist Néhémie Joseph, originally from Mirebalais, was murdered while denouncing the alleged smuggling and corruption of former senator and businessman Rony Célestin. In March 2025, the city fell into the hands of gangs. Forbidden Stories went on the ground to continue Joseph’s investigation, revealing the corruption and trafficking that plague Haiti. https://forbiddenstories.org/gangs-haiti-rony-celestin-2/
Haitian Vigilantes Fighting Gangs Have Become a 'Significant Source Of Human Rights Abuses'
Members of Haiti's so-called self-defense gangs, which claim to fight gangs controlling practically all of the country's capital, have become a "significant source of human rights abuses," the United Nations said. The Washington Post noted in an article that groups are increasingly committing crimes while fighting in the streets of Port-au-Prince. Some include current and former police officers and are equipped with high-caliber firearms and ammunition. According to the UN's office on drugs and crime, some groups have been colluding with gangs. The outlet highlighted a May incident in which vigilantes rampaged through a town in the countryside, torching buildings and attacking a church. The Miami Herald noted back then that the incident, which took place in the Artibonite region, killed 15 people. A witness of the episode told the outlet that members of the gangs "broke the locks, ransacked the church and pulled out machetes." Then they "started hacking people," including beheadings.
Another case involves a group storming a customs office on the border the country shares with the Dominican Republic. There, members of the brigade assaulted agents and looted the office before seizing vehicles. They have also set a checkpoint to collect fees from truckers transporting cargo into the country, a move agents likened to those of gangs. "Although these groups often serve as the last remaining security mechanisms in many areas, they violate fundamental human rights, including the right to life and the right to a fair trial, and fuel further violence," Miroslav Jenča, the UN's assistant secretary general for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, told the body in early July. The UN has also detailed that gangs have "near-total control" of the country's capital. Ghada Fathy Waly, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told the body's Security Council last week that about 90% of Port-au-Prince is now under gang control. He added that areas that had so far escaped violence, like southern Haiti, are now seeing sharp increases in violence.
"And in the east, criminal groups are exploiting land routes, including key crossings like Belladere and Malpasse, where attacks against police and customs officials have been reported," the official added. The transitional government has attempted to mount counter attacks, recently hiring mercenaries that are operating explosive-laden drones. According to a report by the National Human Rights Defense Network and picked up by InSight Crime, drone operations have killed at least 300 gang members and wounded 400 more. https://www.latintimes.com/haitian-vigilantes-fighting-gangs-have-become-significant-source-human-rights-abuses-586262
Progress Slow in Haitian Courts Four Years after Assassination of President Jovenel Moise
Jovenel Moïse, Haiti’s 58th president, was brutally assassinated at his residence in Pèlerin 5 during the night of July 6 to 7, 2021. Four years later, Haitian justice is still going in circles. Since then, five investigative judges have been appointed to handle the case. It was only on January 25, 2024, that the most recent judge, Walter W. Voltaire, issued his order. In this 122-page document—which did not identify the intellectual authors or financial backers—51 individuals were indicted, including the late president’s wife, Martine Moïse, former senior officials, and key figures in Haiti’s security and political apparatus. They have been sent before the criminal court without a jury to stand trial. As a reminder, 44 people have been arrested in Haiti in connection with this case.
Some of the indicted individuals have appealed the judge’s order before the Port-au-Prince Court of Appeal. Hearings began there in December 2024 and are still ongoing. Macky Kessa was the first defendant to be heard by the Court of Appeal. He was followed by key suspect Joseph Félix Badio, a close friend of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who had been on the run for two years before being arrested by police in Pétion-Ville. The Port-au-Prince Court of Appeal also heard the testimonies of the 17 Colombian mercenaries who were detained by Haitian police after President Moïse’s assassination. It is worth noting that Jeantel Joseph was also heard. Two close collaborators of the late president—former interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph and former Secretary General of the Council of Ministers Rénald Lubérice—have also testified before the Court of Appeal. None of the accused admitted guilt during their hearings. Judge Walter W. Voltaire’s order has been “criticized and deemed flawed” by the defendants.
Unlike in Haiti, where the accused proclaim their innocence, in the United States, several suspects did not resist for long before pleading guilty and revealing information. The U.S. justice system, which has jurisdiction over conspiracies plotted on its soil, has taken over from Haitian justice. Rodolphe Jaar—a Haitian-Chilean businessman—was the first among the eleven suspects held in the U.S. to plead guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping abroad and for providing material support resulting in death. He entered his plea in March 2023. Germán Alejandro Rivera García, a former Colombian army officer known as "Colonel Mike," also pleaded guilty in September 2023 to conspiracy to commit murder/kidnapping and material support. He was sentenced to life in prison in October 2023 by a court in Miami. John Joel Joseph, 52, stated before his verdict was announced that he never intended to kill the president but rather wanted to bring him to justice for mismanaging the country. He became the third person convicted in the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in December 2023 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Joseph Vincent, a former DEA informant and Haitian-American citizen, was found guilty of participating in the conspiracy. He was sentenced to life in prison in February 2024. Mario Antonio Palacios, a former Colombian soldier, pleaded guilty in March 2023 to conspiracy. As the first to cooperate with authorities, his sentence is still pending (likely also life imprisonment). He is the fifth of the eleven indicted individuals to plead guilty in the U.S. trial. Several others—including Christian Emmanuel Sanon, James Solages, Arcángel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla, and Frederick Bergmann Jr.—have also pleaded guilty or are awaiting trial in the United States for their roles in financing the operation, providing weapons/equipment, or offering logistical support. Among them, Florida businessman Frederick Bergmann Jr. was sentenced in May 2024 to nine years in prison for supplying bulletproof vests to the team. Germán Rivera García, Rodolphe Jaar, Joseph Vincent, and John Joël Joseph are among the six convicted individuals from whom Martine Moïse received a civil judgment awarding $6.2 million USD in restitution.
US lawmakers introduce act to tackle humanitarian, security crisis in Haiti
A pair of US lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation Wednesday aimed at addressing the ongoing humanitarian and security crisis in Haiti. Reps. Gregory Meeks and Greg Murphy introduced the Strategy to Address Key Priorities Affecting Security and Empowerment in Haiti Act (the SAK PASE Act) which requires the State Department to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to confront the deepening crisis in Haiti and support a Haitian-led path to stability. "The level of human suffering in Haiti is completely unacceptable, and we need a comprehensive strategy to address it," Meeks said in a statement.
Murphy said Haitian and Caribbean security are in the interest of American security. The act would require Secretary of State Marco Rubio to submit to Congress a comprehensive strategy to counter gang violence and advance stability in Haiti within 90 days of enactment. Haiti has faced years of gang violence and political turmoil, which escalated after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021. A Kenyan-led force authorized by the UN has failed to push back the gangs. An estimated 90% of the capital Port-au-Prince is now under control of criminal groups. The UN said about 5.5 million Haitians required humanitarian assistance in 2024, up from 5.2 million the previous year.
On US Independence Day, new Ambassador to Haiti makes speech
As part of the 249th anniversary of the independence of the United States, the new Ambassador to Haiti, Henry T. Wooster, delivered a speech in the presence of Haitian authorities: “The United States remains committed to seeking solutions to Haiti's present challenge: gang intent to overthrow the state. Indeed, the U.S. policy imperative for Haiti is stability. The prospect of this sovereign state becoming ungoverned space—or more particularly, governed by lawlessness, criminality, and terrorism—is inimical to U.S. interests, of course to Haitian interests, to the region's interests, and to the interests of every state which counts itself a member of the international community and which proclaims support for normative standards.
“Analysts of Haiti, and Haitians themselves, often refer to "elites" when discussing this country's political culture, and particularly, its ruling class. I trust it will surprise no one to acknowledge that America's Founders were elites, a collection of culturally and personally affluent gentlemen. These elites knew the creation of a new order would mean sacrifice and quite possibly, their death. Thus, it is remarkable that the decision to jettison status quo was made by those who benefited most from status quo; or put another way, by those who had the most to lose. Those familiar with U.S. history know, the costs for them were enormous, personally, financially, and professionally.
“That's the American foundational story. Remembering it is inspiring to Americans. Narratives fire the imagination, the heart, the head, the spirit of a people, and a country. Everyone here is familiar with Haiti's founding story, of revolution and liberation—inspired ironically by the French Revolution—against what at the time were believed to be insurmountable odds. To this moment, Haiti's achievement remains a singular historical achievement. As the hero of a popular Netflix series—Ted Lasso, if you're wondering—said, "Believe." https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-45269-haiti-249th-independence-day-speech-by-us-ambassador-wooster.html
OPINION/ANALYSIS
New Constitution Between Revision and Rupture, Analysis with Attorney Chantal Hudicourt-Ewald
Chantal Hudicourt-Ewald, a former member of the 1987 Constitutional Assembly, sheds light on the gray areas and challenges of the draft new constitution currently under debate in Haiti. Through a critical analysis, she revisits the democratic legacy of the 1987 Constitution, the legitimacy of the current approach, the contradictions in the proposed text, and the central issue of the inclusion of Haitians living abroad. This in-depth discussion aims to understand why the method, more than the text itself, is divisive and raises serious concerns about the country's institutional and democratic future. (IN FRENCH)
https://youtu.be/evtf2DxrmCA?si=EqgfmjrT55YGT0zC
States should not return anyone to Haiti , UN Independent Human Rights Expert Bill O’Neill
The human rights situation in Haiti is catastrophic by any measure. In my 30 years working in, and on, the country, I have never seen this level of sustained violence and fear. There is currently no possibility for a safe, dignified and sustainable return of Haitians who are abroad. If anything, their country is much more dangerous than the one they fled. Kidnappings, killings, sexual violence and other gross human rights violations and abuses have reached dramatic levels.
Violence has forced at least 1.3 million Haitians to flee their homes; half of them are children. The number of people displaced has increased by 25 per cent since last December. More than half the population suffers from acute food insecurity and barely half of the country’s healthcare facilities are open. Only 13 per cent of them are fully operational. According to the UN Human Rights Office, children are routinely recruited to join gangs. Sexual violence has increased significantly with gang rape being used to exploit, humiliate and project power. Services for survivors are limited and impunity for sexual crimes prevails.
Gang violence has spread beyond the capital Port-au-Prince all the way to the north of the country. The major urban centers and roads in the Central Plateau area, a key lifeline to Haiti’s north, is also dominated by gangs. And the Artibonite Valley, the country’s breadbasket, is now largely under gang control. In short, nowhere is safe in Haiti right now.
Under international human rights law, the principle of non-refoulement entails an obligation on States not to return any person from their territory or under their jurisdiction to a place where there are substantial grounds for believing that the individual would be at risk of being subjected to persecution, torture, ill-treatment, enforced disappearance or other irreparable harm. I reiterate the calls by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to all States not to forcibly return anyone to Haiti, including those who have had their asylum protection claims rejected or who have otherwise been found not to be in need of international protection, and to consider legal stay arrangements with appropriate safeguards.
Haiti Is Bleeding—And the Caribbean Cannot Look Away, By Sir Ronald Sanders
Haiti continues to wallow in deep crisis as criminal gangs entrench their violent control over nearly 90 per cent of Port-au-Prince and other parts of the country. These armed groups have become a de facto regime of terror. Especially chilling is the rampant sexual violence being used as a twisted reward for gang members, some as young as 14. As I noted in my previous commentary, young women and girls are being raped with impunity in areas under gang rule. Kidnappings for ransom are an everyday fear, and normal life is grasped in the brief moments that it comes. The trauma inflicted on Haitian society is incalculable.
The Transitional National Council (TNC), charged with governing Haiti until February 2026, has been unable to contain this descent into chaos. The Haitian National Police are both outmanned and outgunned. Meanwhile, the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission of mostly Kenyan troops—deployed in the absence of a UN Security Council-authorized force—is largely confined to barracks. Starved of funding and operating without a clear mandate to use force, their capacity to confront the gangs is essentially non-existent. Faced with these dire realities, the TNC has taken an extraordinary and controversial step: hiring a private mercenary group to combat the gangs. Until last week, this initiative remained unannounced and unexplained. The TNC had not identified the group involved, disclosed the financial terms, or described its rules of engagement. Surprisingly, this development has received scant international press coverage. But details are now beginning to emerge.
According to the UK Guardian newspaper, the mercenary group has deployed “first-person view” (FPV) kamikaze drones—equipped with commercial mining explosives—to identify and kill gang leaders. But after three months of drone operations, not a single gang leader has been confirmed killed. Instead, several drone strikes have damaged buildings in gang-controlled zones and may have harmed civilians. These are dangerous occurrences in a fragile and densely populated environment.
Yet the TNC’s decision is not without logic. With a paralysed MSS, a compromised national police force, and no external military assistance under UN authority, Haitian leaders are at the end of their tether. In this vacuum, the mercenaries appear to be the only actors taking the fight directly to the gangs. And this has led even some Haitian human rights defenders to reluctantly view the use of mercenaries as a “necessary evil.” But this course of action is fraught with risk. As I warned earlier, it is only a matter of time before the gangs strike back using the same technology. That time may be fast approaching. Reports surfaced last month of three alleged gang members being arrested in neighbouring Dominican Republic while attempting to purchase drones. Meanwhile, the mercenary group in Haiti is reportedly building a 150-person strike force from among overseas-based Haitians with prior service in the military forces of Canada, France, and the United States. A substantial weapons cache has already been moved into the country.
I am not surprised at this development. More than two years ago, leaders in the Haitian diaspora in the United States told me they were willing to organize themselves into a military-style force under credible leadership to confront the gangs. They already had an organizational blueprint. That vision now appears to be taking form. Some voices—like that of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio—have suggested that, in the face of UN Security Council inaction, the Organization of American States (OAS) should take the lead. However, the OAS has no military capability, and its Charter forbids intervention in the domestic affairs of its Member States. Even if the Haitian government invited them, governments would still draw back in the absence of international authority.
It is in this context that the OAS held its 55th Regular Session of the General Assembly on June 27, 2025, in Antigua and Barbuda. The Assembly adopted a resolution, “Calling for Concrete Solutions to Resolve the Grave Security and Institutional Crisis in Haiti.” The resolution acknowledges Haiti’s deep security, political, economic, and humanitarian collapse. It calls for urgent and coordinated international cooperation—multilateral, regional, and bilateral—to support Haiti; assistance to restore law and order, facilitate humanitarian aid, and organize free and fair elections; increased contributions to the MSS mission and the Haitian police; stricter enforcement of arms embargoes and illegal weapons control; judicial reform and anti-corruption efforts to tackle root causes of instability; and a 45-day deadline for the OAS Secretary General to present a consolidated Action Plan—developed in consultation with Haiti and the UN—to provide a structured roadmap for institutional support and national recovery.
The problem with the resolution is that it is binding on no one, and the Secretary General cannot develop a plan that is not approved, mandated, and resourced by Member States. So, while the resolution is encouraging, it is still words on paper. Haiti needs action, not just the expression of commitments. It requires resources, not just rhetoric.
Worse now, US President Donald Trump has called for slashing $9.4 billion in UN contributions. As columnist Jacqueline Charles pointed out recently in The Miami Herald, this would jeopardize programmes for Haiti, including the MSS mission. If this crisis escalates—as it now seems set to do—the consequences will not stop at Haiti’s borders. Regional migration pressures, transnational crime, and humanitarian spillovers will affect us all. Warfare of drones, gangs, and mercenaries will not spare the Haitian people from suffering. It may seem necessary out of desperation, but the longer this violent path continues, the harder it becomes to find a peaceful solution.
CARICOM does not have the money or troops to help Haiti. Still, it does have the capacity for diplomatic coordination, humanitarian response, and high-level advocacy at the UN, as well as for assisting the OAS Secretary General’s plan to become a reality. The Caribbean cannot look away. CARICOM governments must continue to seek new ways to offer Haiti meaningful engagement.
https://thevoiceslu.com/2025/07/haiti-is-bleeding-and-the-caribbean-cannot-look-away/