Gangs edge Haiti to brink of collapse as regional leaders seek solutions

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a last-minute trip to Jamaica today for an emergency meeting of Caribbean leaders to discuss the spiraling security and humanitarian crises in Haiti.

  The group is looking to develop a leadership transition in Haiti as gang violence rages and the population There suffers.

  Here's Nick Schifrin.

  And a note of caution: Some images in this story are disturbing.

• Nick Schifrin:

  In Haiti's capital, the gangs are in control. They besiege Port-au-Prince's airport, where workers risk their lives just to cross the street.

  Prison cells are unlocked and unguarded, emptied by gangs of thousands of inmates. The dead are left to rot. The city smells of bodies. It's too dangerous to retrieve them. The lucky are only shot in the leg. Gangs have seized 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.

• Man (through interpreter):

  The gangs came with big guns. We have no guns and we cannot defend ourselves. All of us are suffering.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Haiti is no stranger to gang violence. But, this time, gangs are trying to overthrow an absent government.

• Woman:

  Welcome Dr. the Honorable Ariel Henry, prime minister of the Republic of Haiti.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Prime Minister Ariel Henry has been abroad at a regional summit in Guyana, and then Kenya to secure the deployment of international police to Haiti that he requested.

• Ariel Henry, Haitian Prime Minister:

  We did this appeal, and you step up.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But, by then, gangs closed the airport, and his plane landed in Puerto Rico, where he is still stuck.

  Prominent gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, widely known as Barbecue, says Henry has to go.

  Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, Haitian Gang Leader (through interpreter): We will fight Ariel Henry until our last drop of blood, until he resigns. If the international community continues to support Ariel Henry, they will lead us into civil war.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Caribbean leaders in Jamaica to announce $100 million support for the multinational police force and for a transitional presidential council.

  Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: Leadership at a critical moment, a critical moment for Haiti, but also a critical moment for all of us.

• Nick Schifrin:

  There is no agreement yet on the council's makeup, but it would likely require Henry to resign, as reiterated today by Haiti caucus co-chair Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

• Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL):

  We have given him ample opportunities to have a transitional government. It has been 1.5 years and he has stalemated this process.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Henry assumed power in July 2021, after the assassination of former President Jovenel Moise. Last month, a judge indicted Moise's widow, Martine, for conspiring to kill her husband and replace him with herself. She was indicted alongside former Prime Minister Claude Joseph.

  It helped push Haiti to today's breaking point, after years of poverty and violence. This weekend, the U.S. military boosted security around its embassy and evacuated nonessential staff.

  And, today, the European Union announced it will evacuate all of its staff from Haiti in response to — quote — "dramatic security deterioration."

  For more on Haiti, we are joined by Robert Fatton, professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia.

  Robert Fatton, thank you very much. welcome to the "NewsHour."

  How critical is the crisis that Haiti faces today?

  Robert Fatton, University of Virginia: It's critical.

  I mean, Haiti is essentially on life support now. The gangs have essentially controlled the capital city, Port-au-Prince. They are controlling not only the main arteries leading to the capital city, but they have attacked the jails, they have attacked the airport, they have attacked the ministries, and they even attacked the national palace.

  So it's a really critical moment in the history of modern Haiti.

• Nick Schifrin:

  And they have actually closed the airport so the prime minister can't return.

  As we said, Secretary Blinken's in Jamaica today talking to regional leaders and calling for an independent what they're calling presidential college to transition away from Ariel Henry. How realistic is that?

• Robert Fatton:

  This is going to be difficult, because you have Many different political factions in Haiti that have proposed essentially that solution, to have a college where the presidency would rotate.

  The only problem is that those parties in Haiti do not agree on the composition of the party. And the big problem is obviously, what do you do with the bandits or the gangs? Are they going to be part of the negotiations? Are they going to be excluded from any potential transitional government?

  That's the big question. And it's very clear that, in Haiti now, the police is incapable of keeping order for long. It's also very clear that any type of government that were to come in the next 48 hours or so would have to deal with the gangs, and they don't have the means to deal with it.

  So the question is whether the mission that was approved by the United Nations is going to arrive on time in Haiti, that is to say, the Kenyan troops, the Kenyan police officers that were supposed to arrive in Haiti, whether they are going to arrive and whether they are going to be there on time, because the situation is deteriorating as we speak.

• Nick Schifrin:

  The gang leader, Barbecue, has said publicly that the violence, at least the latest round of violence, will stop if Henry steps down. That perhaps is a short-term solution, but is that the medium- or even long-term solution?

• Robert Fatton:

  It may be a short-term solution, but one has to doubt that the simple absence of Ariel Henry is going to resolve the problem in Haiti.

  And it's not even clear that Ariel Henry is the problem at the moment. And the gangs may change their mind, because they are very close to getting the national palace. And if they were to get to the national palace, they may install someone who's not of the liking of most of the groups in Haiti itself, let alone the international community.

• Nick Schifrin:

  You mentioned the multinational force that Kenya would lead.

  There is a debate among experts of Haiti, as you know, about whether those police officers could actually quell the violence. Do you believe they can?

• Robert Fatton:

  It's going to be very difficult for them. You're talking only about 1,000 police officers. They don't speak the language. They speak English. Apparently, some of them have learned French, but that is not going to be the language that they are going to have to speak confronting the gangs and going into the slums.

  So it's going to be very difficult. On the other hand, we don't really know how powerful are the gangs in terms of their capacity to inflict punishment on a well-armed force. That will have to be found out. The other problem is, obviously, that the terrain itself is very complicated, because you need to go to the slums, but you need also to protect the airport, the national palace.

  You need to protect the main arteries. So this is going to be an exceedingly difficult issue to be resolved. And 1,000 police officers may not be enough. We will have to wait and see, if they come, that is.

• Nick Schifrin:

  The U.S. has backed Ariel Henry for years, including after the assassination of Jovenel Moise. And now the U.S. is calling for a transfer of power.

  What credibility does the U.S. have right now in Haiti?

• Robert Fatton:

  Well, whether Haitians like it or not, the U.S. is the main elephant in the room.

  Ariel Henry has been kind of humiliated, because he's not even allowed to go back to Haiti, as you know. And, to some extent, the situation of Ariel Henry reminds us of Henry Kissinger's dictum that you can be — that to be an enemy of the United States is very dangerous, but to be a friend of the United States can be fatal.

  And I think that Ariel Henry is finding himself in that situation, although he may have a last card to play. But all signs point to his resignation, whether it's voluntary or forced.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Robert Fatton, thank you very much.

• Robert Fatton:

  Thank you.