Unless a hurricane strikes, the international media pay little attention to Haiti in the normal course of the news cycle, since they conclude, rightly or wrongly that it is in a state of permanent crisis and there is consequently never anything new to report. But last week, the killing of President Jovenel Moïse suddenly captured their attention. In addition to the assassination itself, there was the matter of the perpetrators, who were soon identified and seventeen of whom were paraded at a news conference looking exhausted and bruised. Three of those who took part in the murder had been shot dead by police in a firefight, while eight are still at large.
What really attracted notice was the fact that this was a mercenary operation, with the majority of the hit squad comprising Colombians, while two Haitian-Americans holding US citizenship were said to have acted as interpreters for them. US and Canadian media reported that one of the latter had once worked as a bodyguard at Canada’s embassy in Haiti. The pair also apparently told a local investigating judge that they had found their job as translators on the internet, and that Moïse was supposed to have been arrested, not killed.
Various agencies have reported the Commander of Colombia’s armed forces as saying that 17 of the suspects had retired from his country’s army between 2018 and 2020, while the Director of the National Police Force told the media that 11 of the Colombians had travelled to Haiti via the Dominican Republic. Two others, he said, had gone first to Panama, before flying to the Dominican Republic and then on overland to Port-au-Prince.
While the role of the Colombians might have come as a surprise to some, it is no revelation to authorities in the Americas and the Middle East, since they have been employed as mercenaries in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen and possibly other places as well. Colombia’s army is the most battle-hardened in South America since it has been engaged for decades in fighting various guerrilla groups, while many of its members have been trained by the Americans. They are therefore sought after as mercenaries on account of their military skills and experience. In a country where economic opportunities are limited, especially for those with a deficient education, mercenary work is a seductive proposition for army retirees on account of its high remuneration rates.
But the men who shot Moïse dead and wounded his wife, were just the executioners, not the intellectual authors of the operation. And it is essential if Haiti is not to slide into further instability that those behind the killing are identified at a minimum, and if possible brought to justice. The Haitian public needs to know who was ultimately responsible, if there are not to be accusations and counter-accusations, which would further subvert a society already teetering on the brink of anarchy.
Strangely, as of yesterday nothing has been said by the Haitian police about who was behind the assassination, despite the fact that they have seventeen suspects in custody. While it is conceivable that the two Haitian-Americans believed, or chose to believe, that the President was only supposed to be arrested, it appears more likely that this was what they were told to say should they be captured. Given the array of weapons with which the squad was held there can be little doubt that their objective went well beyond ‘arrest’. What can be said with some confidence is that this was no small-time adventure; whoever financed it had access to very substantial funds.
Is it that the Haitian police know who paid for it and organised it, but do not want to make the information public, or is it that they genuinely don’t know? It may be alternatively that they would like foreign investigators to be the official source of any announcement on the matter, or else that they realise the killing has a foreign component which they cannot follow up. The US had indicated last Thursday that it would send officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to see how it could assist, while Colombia has said it would be dispatching the head of its National Intelligence Directorate as well as the Intelligence Director for the police force in the company of Interpol to help with the investigations.
In the meantime, the current acting head of government, Mr Claude Joseph, was reported by Reuters as saying that Moïse himself had spoken of dark forces being behind the unrest in his country, namely fellow politicians and corrupt oligarchs who were opposed to his efforts to clean up government contracts and reform Haitian politics. He related the events of July 7 directly to what he claimed were the former head of state’s anti-corruption measures.
The Haitian opposition will regard this version with a cynical eye, since the late President was himself accused of diverting public funds to his banana company at an earlier stage, and his association with criminal gangs has not gone unremarked. The protests in the streets against Moïse, as we related in our Friday editorial, were concerned with the large-scale corruption in government and also later with its authoritarian direction, such as ruling by decree and the belief the President was hanging on to power for a year longer than he should.
The leader also elucidated the uncertain constitutional and political situation in Haiti, a situation which has been made worse by the remaining third of the Senate on Friday nominating its head, Joseph Lambert, to be interim president instead of Joseph, whose legitimacy was under question by some in any case. A leading opposition politician has said that “The assassination … has provoked a political and institutional vacuum at the highest level of state … There is no constitutional provision for this exceptional situation.”
What makes this especially difficult is that gangsterism is so dominant. The country has experienced a major surge in kidnappings, for example, partly because of the dire economic situation, but also because of politics, say rights activists. Among other things they allege Moïse’s government harnessed criminal groups to terrorize neighbourhoods considered opposition strongholds and to suppress the street protests. The International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School has alleged the government provided gangs with money, weapons and vehicles, and shielded them from prosecution. On the other side, the administration said it was working hard to end the terror.
Whether prior to his death Moïse had genuinely changed course on the matter of criminal gangs we are not in a position to say at this end of the Caribbean, but if he was sincere in his intentions, it has made little difference. As things are the situation is still extremely volatile and dangerous. Given the instability questions are being asked about whether it will be even possible to hold elections in September as originally planned, since an infinitely greater measure of security will be required for that exercise than exists at present. Despite the protests and the growing violence, the UN, the OAS and the US had earlier recognised Moïse as legitimate, provided polls were held this year. Interference, they thought, could have unpredictable consequences. In any case the conventional thinking in such situations is that democratic elections allow for a fresh start and wipe away all stains of illegitimacy. For the same reasons they have so far recognised Mr Joseph.
The question is how to ensure that Haiti can get to elections in one piece without dissolving into utter chaos, and if that is achieved, how to conduct the poll in an atmosphere of relative peace. The US was asked by the government to send security forces to protect key infrastructure, but it has refused. A similar letter was sent to the UN, but whether what was sought was the equivalent of a peacekeeping force which comes within the UN mandate was not clear. There were UN peacekeepers there between 2004 and 2019, but they achieved little. The Security Council did manage a rare show of unanimity in condemning the assassination, but whether it would stretch to sending peacekeepers to Haiti remains an open question. Others have suggested that it is the OAS which should provide the force, but even if hypothetically speaking, agreement were to be secured on that, it would take quite some time to create one of any size if it were to be drawn from more than one nation.
The organisation which has a particular interest in Haiti of course is Caricom, since that country is a member of the Community. On Wednesday it expressed “its willingness to play a lead role in facilitating a process of national dialogue and negotiation to help the Haitian people and their institutions to craft an indigenous solution to the crisis.” For it to play any role at all, however, would depend in the first instance on a measure of stability in the Haitian situation; negotiation cannot take place where there is no space for discussion. And it is the bigger players in the game which would have to provide the security before Caricom could offer its services.
