A convergence of crises has plunged this already fragile and dysfunctional country into a state of complete chaos, leaving its people desperate and its institutions in shambles.
The collapse of Haiti’s government, overrun by uncontrollable and barbaric gangs, paints a grim picture of a nation teetering on the edge of oblivion.
A primitive hellscape that, if we aren’t careful, might soon be coming to a city or town near you.
Haiti has not held functional elections since 2019, and the country has been reeling since the devastating 2010 earthquake that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Though the country has been troubled and poverty stricken for decades, recent events have now pushed things ever farther over the edge.
The real catalyst for Haiti’s current plight was the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. A group of Colombian mercenaries, their paymasters still shrouded in mystery, gunned down Moïse at his residence in Port-au-Prince.
His death created a power vacuum, one that allowed armed gangs to seize an unbelievable amount of territory and assert their dominance in the streets.
Enter Jimmy “Barbeque” Chérizier, a former police officer turned gang leader. His alliance, known as G9, comprises nine separate gangs that have wreaked havoc across the nation. These gangs now operate with almost total impunity, terrorizing communities, politicians, and journalists alike. Their crimes include kidnappings, massacres, and extreme sexual violence, much of which has been filmed and sent to the families of their victims in hopes of securing random money.
The situation is unprecedented, leaving Haiti without a single elected government official and its institutions paralyzed.
In addition to their crimes against the population, they have now also managed to overrun the country’s massive prisons, releasing thousands of dangerous inmates into the streets to add to the mayhem.
They’ve now moved on to target key infrastructure, including the main airport, disrupting essential services in the process. Innocent civilians suffer as trash piles up, petty crimes go unsolved, and hunger becomes rampant. The city center is a war zone, and the Dominican Republic has closed its borders in response. In addition the country’s main port, its main lifeline for food aid, has now been forced to shut down completely in response to the unfolding chaos.
As Haiti teeters on the brink of complete anarchy, we, as Americans, must now also confront an uncomfortable truth: its fate may mirror that of our own U.S. cities.
San Francisco, Chicago, Oakland, and Washington D.C. all have been grappling with rising crime rates for years, but things have gotten significantly worse in the years since the George Floyd riots and the enactment of the insane and dangerous policies of the pro-crime far-left.
Policies that, in spite of the mounting chaos, show no sign of being retracted, contrary to the naive hopes of many moderates.
What these moderates fail, or refuse, to see is that, as a popular meme states, a system “is what it does.” That is to say that the murder, rape, and chaos engendered by leftist policies are a feature of their ideology, not a bug.
Thus the situation in Port Au Prince, though it may seem like a world away, could easily happen here. As creating such a situation is precisely the goal of leftists ideology.
The Biden administration’s response to Haiti’s crisis has been inadequate.
While offering money and logistical support, it has refrained from committing troops to stabilize the country for now.
In addition the the U.S.-led push for a multinational force led by Kenya has stalled.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, unelected and widely viewed as illegitimate, struggles to maintain control.
It is likely that the Haitian National Police, overwhelmed and outgunned, may not hold out much longer and the gangs will soon take over the entire country.
A fate which could easily happen in places like Oakland and Chicago in the coming years, especially as businesses flee en masse and police officers quit and retire en masse in the wake of an unprecedented wave of violent crime.
As ‘Dawn of the Dead’ like chaos in Haiti shows us, the veneer of civilization can be far thinner than anyone wants to think, and if we don’t take action soon—and finally put an end to the menace posed by the pro-crime far-left for good— it’s something we all may lose for good.
