By Ron Daniels
Haiti, our first Black Republic, is a virtual failed state where vicious gangs tied to the parasitical elite, and gangs with their own wannabe leaders or criminal kingpins control most of the Capital of Port Au Prince and much of the country. Ariel Henry, an unelected, illegitimate and inept “Prime Minister” has a tenuous hold over what passes for a “government.”
The well-armed rampaging gangs are terrorizing the country utilizing kidnapping for ransom, extortion, trafficking in drugs and assaulting and raping women unchecked. They are attacking police stations and killing members of the National Police, attacking prisons and releasing prisoners and attacking and killing each other over turf. They are also in deadly competition with each other to take over the government or at least emerge as the dominant force that will be the de facto government.
Haiti is on fire and as the people suffer and demand the resignation of an illegitimate prime minister, what is the posture of the U.S. government and the Core Group of nations and multilateral bodies? Unfortunately, tragically the U.S. is propping up a recalcitrant, illegitimate, shaky Henry regime despite massive opposition from the people. Rather than insisting that Henry relinquish the reins of power, the U.S. and its allies are negotiating with him and preparing to finance a Kenyan-led military force to “restore order.” The U.S. and its allies are arrogantly and blatantly ignoring rather than respecting and supporting the wishes of the Haitian people. We’ve seen this movie before. Unfortunately, even heads of state in the Caribbean, who should be good-faith facilitators, have recently acquiesced to negotiating with Henry rather than demanding his immediate departure from office.
Haiti is on fire. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that there is a remarkable, broad-based civil society movement involving hundreds of organizations and leaders from across the political spectrum who have boldly and courageously come forward to devise a plan, process and strategy to put out the fire, to extinguish the raging conflagration; firefighting freedom fighters committed to advancing a “Haitian Solution” to rescue the first Black Republic from what one leader has termed the “criminal enterprise” which is spreading death and destruction across the land. This powerful, people-based effort is called the Montana Accord Movement (MAM). These courageous leaders are determined to raise Haiti from the ashes to create a sustainable, people-based democracy.
The issue is, our challenge as allies and friends of the First Black Republic is to persuade, demand, compel the U.S. government, the Core Group and our sisters and brothers from CARICOM to insist that Henry relinquish power immediately. Equally important, the U.S. and all external international players should immediately acknowledge and support the Montana Accord Movement plan, process and strategy as the way forward toward sustainable democracy and development in Haiti. To achieve this righteous outcome, we the people must rise-up to support the Montana Accord Movement to save Haiti. Let’s do it.
To read more about the Montana Accord Movement, visit akomontana.ht/en/agreeement/
This article was originally published by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century.
