Consider This from NPR - Haiti's Prime Minister Says He'll Resign. Will It Help Calm The Violence?

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

Haiti's Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, has announced his resignation. But the country remains in freefall. Will Haitians finally have a chance to determine their own political future?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, has effectively been under lockdown for nearly two weeks, under the control of armed gangs who have been calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. If the international community continues to support Ariel Henry, there will be a civil war, said Jimmy Gérardet, who is better known by his nickname Barbecue. He is one of Haiti's most powerful gang leaders. He appears to be gunning for the prime minister's job. Well, last night, under pressure from the international community and Haitians at home, Prime Minister Henri announced his forthcoming resignation over a video message, presumably sent from Puerto Rico, where he has been stranded because of the violence. He says that as soon as a transitional presidential council is in place in Haiti, he will remove his own government. I believe it's time for the Haitians to self-determine their political future. That is Daniel Foote, former U.S. special envoy to Haiti.

He spoke to me shortly before Henri's resignation. If we don't enable this at this point in time, you're going to continue the cycle of intervention, propped up puppet government, leading to a long period of erosion and ending in a horrendous humanitarian catastrophe like we're in today. Foote was based in Haiti back in 2021, when the then president was assassinated and Henri was sworn in as prime minister. Foote disagreed with the U.S. decision to back Henri as Haiti's leader, disagreed so strongly he resigned. It was the arrogance and the hubris that the United States and the international community thought that they could anoint another Haitian leader and be successful. And clearly, they were not successful doing it. We need to give the Haitians time and space to get this right.

And if we don't let them set a political base, we're going to send in intervening military or security force that could well wind up fighting the very people it's being sent to protect. The international community has messed it up beyond recognition countless times. I guarantee the Haitians mess it up less than the Americans. Consider this. Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to step down after a tumultuous term. Now, will Haitians finally have a chance to determine their own political future? From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. It's Tuesday, March 12th. It's Consider This from NPR. Some have described the scenes in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as a war zone. Some people there have been locked up in their homes for more than a week, without food, without water, without basic necessities. Gangs and some ordinary Haitians have been calling for the ouster of their prime minister, Ariel Henry.

And now, Henry has promised to step down after a transitional presidential council is installed. This could be a turning point for Haiti. Here's U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaking in Jamaica at an emergency meeting with Caribbean leaders. All of us know that only the Haitian people can, only the Haitian people should determine their own future, not anyone else. But all of us here, CARICOM, the United States, our other partners, we can help. We can help restore a foundation of security that can address the tremendous suffering that innocent Haitians are experiencing and help create the conditions that will enable them to have that opportunity.

Blinken also announced an increase in security support and humanitarian aid from the U.S. to Haiti. Political chaos and violence in Haiti has left its people in dire need. We spoke to someone on the front lines of the effort to help. John Martin Bauer, country director of the United Nations World Food Program. We reached him in Cap-Haitien, about 120 miles north of Port-au-Prince. Hey there. Hi. Hi. I gather we have reached you in a warehouse.

Would you tell me what kind of warehouse, what you're doing, what you see? I'm at the World Food Program's warehouse in Cape Haitian. It's a place where we store the food before it's distributed. We have all types of commodities in here, mostly grain, beans. We also have a lot of locally purchased commodities at the moment. What does that mean, locally purchased commodities? Like what? Well, for example, we just bought 95 tons of local sorghum. It's called piti meal here in Haiti. It's one of the local crops. And by doing these purchases, we help Haitian farmers access the market, earn money, and we're also helping the country develop its agriculture. And is the warehouse full? I mean, we're hearing that people are starving. We have trucks here being loaded as I speak, or programs are still operational in the north of Haiti. And indeed,

Haiti is going through a severe food crisis. It's been a long term food crisis. In fact, since 2020, since COVID, at least 4 million people in Haiti have been acutely food insecure. And right now, out of those 4 million, 1 million are one step away from famine. So when you walk around the city as you make your way through Cap-Haitien, paint me a picture of what it is like. Are shops open? Are restaurants open? Are people able to move around? Cap-Haitien is quieter than usual, but there is a fairly normal level of activity. I'm seeing children go to school. Clinics are open.

Some of the shops are open. The airport is closed and it's quiet. It's one of the busiest places in the city. There's always quite a traffic jam to turn into the airport. And that's because there haven't been flights for a week. A patient doesn't feel like itself. What reports do you have from the capital, from Port-au-Prince? What do you know of the situation there?

The weekend was extremely harsh. We're fighting in downtown Port-au-Prince, including in Champs-de-Mars, which is the heart of the city, with a lot of the ministries. The symbols of sovereignty in Haiti are down there. Over the past 24 hours, it has been a relative calm. However, my team in Port-au-Prince are still sheltering in place. We're being very cautious with security because it has been a very difficult couple of weeks. And does your team in Port-au-Prince have food, have supplies that they are hoping to be able to distribute? So Port-au-Prince right now is a bubble. There's no coming in or going out. We are doing everything we can to support the displaced population of Port-au-Prince. There are about 100,000 people who are displaced on sites in Port-au-Prince.

So what we are doing is we're providing a hot meal a day to about 13,000 people. We're able to do that because we have stocks in Port-au-Prince, but as soon as they run out, well, we can't replenish our stocks. The port is closed. The roads in and out of Port-au-Prince are controlled by armed groups. The airport is closed. So right now we're using the resources we have on hand, but we're going to need more. Sadly, the headlines out of Haiti have been desperate for years now. You could go back to the assassination of the president

and the crisis in 2021. You could go back to the catastrophic earthquake in 2010. You could go back beyond that. Does this moment feel different to people in Haiti? Does it feel more urgent? To the people I talk to, this feels unprecedented. It's a scenario that Haiti hasn't really gone through before. Of course, there was the news of the prime minister stepping down, and there's hope that that would bring us back closer to normality. What would you need first as this country tries to piece together something like a new government or some kind of transitional governing body? What do you need first?

We need security, first of all, first and foremost, because it's dangerous to go out and help the population. We also need a recognition of the link between conflict and hunger in a place like Haiti. We all know that mass hunger can be a breeding ground for conflict, for civil strife. It can also be a breeding ground for mass migration. We also need a strong social and humanitarian component to what we do, and that needs to be funded. Humanitarian issues deserve the same attention as security issues in Haiti. If we don't address humanitarian issues, we won't be able to find peace. A Haiti with half of its population starving won't be a country of peace.

I'm listening to you, John Martin, and you sound so calm. And I'm trying to square that with some of the really harrowing things you're telling me about hungry children and about displaced people and violence there. Do you feel as calm as you sound? I feel that my team, we all have the responsibility to work together to make things better. We have fantastic programs in this country that can make a difference for thousands of people and even millions of people. We're here to stay. We're here to deliver because Haiti needs these programs to continue. We need to be on the ground when the long Haitian night will be

over. We can't give up and we realize how important our work is. So we might sound calm, but that's because we know exactly what we're doing. We need to be here to make sure that there is a tomorrow. That phrase you just used, when the long Haitian night is over, do you have hope that it will be? We have hope that it will be. This country deserves better than what it's had. It deserves better than gang violence. It deserves better than quarter prints being under siege. It deserves better than such high malnutrition rates and such pervasive hunger. John Martin Bauer, World Food Program Country Director for Haiti,

speaking with us from one of their warehouses in the city of Cap-Haitien. Thank you. Thank you. This episode was produced by Janaki Mehta, Alina Burnett, and Mia Vincat. It was edited by Jeanette Woods, Patrick Jaron-Waddananen, and Tara Neal. Our executive producer is Sammy Yinnigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Mary Louise Kelly.