Kim Ives is an editor and investigative journalist at Haïti Liberté.
There’s little doubt the US helped install Haiti’s new prime minister following the assassination of the country’s president. So here we are again: the US is arrogantly shaping Haiti’s affairs rather than allowing Haitians to rule themselves.
From a decades-long US occupation to violent foreign-backed coups, Haiti’s history is riddled with disastrous imperial interventions that have helped keep the country mired in poverty. There’s zero justification for more American interference in the country.
Haitian president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated this week by alleged mercenaries. In an interview with Jacobin, the English language editor of Haiti Liberté says he suspects that some of Haiti’s richest families hired the attackers to preempt a potential revolution — and possibly even trigger US military intervention.
Haiti’s corrupt, US-backed president is facing massive demonstrations after refusing to step down. US intervention has stifled Haitian democracy and impoverished its people — and the protests are an effort to fight back.
Haiti’s latest crisis is just another example of the pernicious effects of US imperialism in the country.