Destabilization of Haiti made in the United States

The day that the armed group Grand Grif (Big Claws) attacked the rural area of Jean-Denis, near the town of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite in Haiti, burning homes and killing at least 20 people, was the day that the first elements of the United Nations’ new Gang Suppression Force landed at Port-Au-Prince’s airport on April 1. 

The Artibonite is the premier rice growing area of Haiti. Its rice is particularly flavorful and has an international market with an internet presence.

The United States has a lot on its mind elsewhere outside of the Caribbean with immensely profitable interests at play in West Asia, but it still has to take care of its “backyard.”

For the past hundred years or more the U. S. bourgeoisie has attempted to maintain control over what is happening in Haiti. Beginning with a group of U.S. Marine commandos who seized Haiti’s gold reserves in December 1914 and deposited them in the National City Bank (now Citibank), the U.S. has continued its mission of securing U.S. interests and controlling Haiti’s economy through two military occupations and numerous political interventions. .

There has been a persistent popular resistance in Haiti. A dechoukaj (a popular uprising) drove President Jean-Claude Duvalier, a U.S. puppet, from power in 1986 after his family had been in power since 1957. 

A progressive former priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president in 1990. There were coups and counter-coups following his election and his creation of a mass political party called Lavalas (the Flood). The political maneuvers and major street protests, repression and resistance are well explained in the book ”Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment” (Hallward, Verso, 2007).

Currently there have been major and multiple street protests over the price of fuel — gasoline, diesel and gasoil — set by the government. On April 2, it announced a 37% increase in the cost of diesel and a 29% increase in the cost of gasoline. Many Haitians who have jobs are forced to spend hours walking to and from work.

About 350,000 Haitians have Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the U.S. President Trump wants to end this program which would have a devastating effect on Haiti with the threat of mass deportations.

Not only would Haiti have to absorb 350,000 people, a major task even for a well developed economy, but the remittances — money these U.S. residents send back home – would also cease. These remittances amount to $3 billion a year, nearly 20% of Haiti’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Widespread hunger 

According to the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 6.4 million people, over half the Haitian population, now need humanitarian assistance. 5.7 million people are skipping meals, and 1.5 million people — 12% of the population — are displaced due to violence.

OCHA claims that a majority of Haitians live on less than $2.15 a day.

It is indisputable that currently there is a lot of violence in Haiti. The Grand Grif set up road blocks that hindered the police. At some of the road blocks, they had more weapons and more ammunition than the cops.

Most of the weapons used by the Haitian armed groups come from Florida. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) last year began an extensive series on April 16 entitled “Smugglers’ paradise: How U.S. guns flow to gang-ravaged Haiti.” (tinyurl.com/3kr4h3at)

There is a U.N. embargo on shipping arms to Haiti, but given the laxity of gun laws in Florida and the corruption in the official customs and duties system in Haiti, it appears fairly easy to get weapons through to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

The ease of obtaining weapons and the extreme poverty of Haiti allow armed groups to set up tolls, which increase the cost of Haitians going to work.

Violence and elections

The last elections in Haiti took place in 2016. Haiti’s Provincial Electoral Council said on April 8 it was postponing a voter registration campaign that should have begun on April 1. The Council did not announce a new date to begin registration because it stated that the security situation wouldn’t let it run “fair and free” elections.

The U. S. State Department earlier had stuck its hand into the election process. On May 2, 2025, it announced “the designation of Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).” It said, “The United States remains committed to protecting our national security interests and dismantling violent criminal gangs terrorizing the Haitian people. ” (tinyurl.com/39cvbrsw)

What this means is that members of the progressive armed group Viv Ansanm, declared as “terrorists,” will not be able to run in the election.