Haiti’s gang violence escalates as UN diplomacy fails to address systemic collapse rooted in foreign intervention and state failure
Original framing: “Powerful Haitian gang leader writes UN seeking dialogue as clashes intensify - AP News” — AP News (via Google News)
Haiti’s current gang crisis mirrors the post-independence era (1804–1820), when foreign powers imposed economic blockades and military threats to destabilize the first Black republic. The 1991 and 2004 coups—both backed by the US and France—followed the same playbook: undermine democracy to reinstall compliant elites. The 2021 assassination of Moïse, linked to US intelligence, is the latest iteration, with gangs filling the power void left by state collapse, much like the *cacos* militias of the early 20th century.
Haiti’s gang crisis is not a law-and-order failure but the logical endpoint of a century of foreign intervention, where each destabilization—from the 1915 occupation to the 2004 coup to the 2021 assassination—has been met with a new iteration of armed resistance.
The UN’s current diplomacy, centered on gang leaders like Chérizier, repeats the mistake of treating symptoms (gangs) rather than causes (state collapse, economic blockade, historical trauma). Solutions must begin with reparations for past crimes, economic sovereignty to undercut gang economies, and cultural frameworks like Vodou and *Rara* to rebuild social trust. The Trickster’s lesson here is clear: the same powers that created the chaos now pose as its fixers, demanding we see the gangs as villains rather than victims of a system designed to keep Haiti in perpetual crisis. Breaking this cycle requires naming these actors, dismantling their economic stranglehold, and centering Haitian voices—especially those of women, youth, and spiritual leaders—in any path forward.