Haiti is the only country in the world where criminal gangs control the largest mass of territory, have more and better weapons than the security forces, more personnel than the police and their dwindling military force, together, an implacable code of obedience, sources of financing , experience in conflicts and training for a war.
With this at hand, control of the country is a matter of time, unless the expected foreign military occupation is consummated and the police do their job, a deadly confrontation with gang members that would entail the sacrifice of many lives.
If in the short term the international community does not decide the fate of Haiti, with a strong armed presence, in the medium term that country will fall irretrievably into the hands of crime.
And, in the end, there will be three victims: the great economic interests of the powers that hesitate to act, the Haitian people and the Dominicans.
In this scenario after the disaster, the concern for that to happen should be on this eastern side, the Dominican Republic.
The only way for Haitians to escape would be across the border. An exodus could outnumber the total of all Dominican populations along the border.
What would our military forces do in the face of a human avalanche fleeing to death and social pressure from this side to avoid it, is a capital question.
If the Haitian police are given a solid shell to operate, backed by an international contingent, there will be a long fight with the armed gangs.
It is known that the power of these groups is overwhelming and their instincts and practices are savage.
Most of Haiti is divided between rival gangs who mercilessly kidnap, destroy, rape and kill.
Haitian territory is demarcated with blood and entering a sector under gang control can cost your life.
But for the moment, Haiti is bound and alone will be lost, kneeling before crime. Its police, insufficient and incompetent, were assassinated, in 2022, 55 agents. And the last week of January they killed 10.
Given this, Prime Minister Ariel Henry guaranteed, when condemning the deadly attack on six police officers in the Artibonite department, that “eventually” the requested multinational force will arrive in due course.
For now, the only possibility of prevailing in this situation is with the presence of those intervening forces, and the sooner it happens the better, because these groups continue to increase their power while the population’s hardships increase.
These groups control and terrorize at least 60 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and its surrounding areas, while in key departments such as the North and the entire southern strip, up to Anse-Ã -Pitres, adjacent to Pedernales, they are regions where its influence is felt in every corner.
The latest violent events occurred last Friday when armed individuals murdered two people, including a former mayoral candidate and activist in the Anacaona town protests. It is reported that Haitian police personnel were among the assassins.
In another event, which also occurred last Friday, the Roroli hotel, located at Mahotière 77, in the Carrefour area, owned by the former justice minister, Berto Dorcé, was vandalized, allegedly mistaken for part of the protest movement against the murder of policemen perpetrated in Liancourt, of the Artibonite.
The perpetrators of the attack on the establishment broke everything in the hotel and promised to return to the charge if the business reopened its doors.
Tension has grown considerably in Haiti after the murder of six policemen in the Artibonite department, and four others had previously been shot by gunmen in an ambush.
His comrades in arms and members of the population took to the streets in and around the metropolitan area, as well as in provincial towns, in anger. Individuals dressed in police uniforms attacked the official and private residences of Prime Minister Ariel Henry and the Toussaint Louverture airport, where the head of government was expected to return.
These police officers protested to denounce the inaction of the authorities in the face of the murders of several agents, at least 13 in two weeks, by armed gangs.
Also, the residence of the director general of the Haitian National Police, Frantz Elbé, was stoned and tires were set on fire in the area. The Gonaives police station was also ransacked, at the end of the week, by the police.
Yesterday, Sunday, the Caribbean Community stated, in a statement, that it was “deeply concerned” about recent incidents involving Haitian police officers.
The regional organization urges the Haitian police to “safeguard peace and order and refrain from actions that could only cause further damage to the country.”
On the one hand, the regional organization condemned the murder of agents and said it shared the “anger and consternation” of the Police for these losses, but it assured that these protests “cannot be tolerated.”
“Abandoning the role of protecting all citizens and maintaining public order further destabilizes the country,” he denounced.