The existing political, economic, and social crisis began with protests across cities in Haiti on 7 July 2018 in response to rising fuel prices. These protests gradually evolved into demands for the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse. Led by opposition politician Jean-Charles Moïse, protesters demanded a transitional government, provision of social programs, and the prosecution of corrupt officials. From 2019 to 2021, massive protests called for the Jovenel Moïse government to resign. Moïse had come to power in the 2016 presidential election, which had voter turnout of only 21%. Previously, the 2015 elections had been annulled due to fraud. On 7 February 2021, supporters of the opposition allegedly attempted a coup d'état, leading to 23 arrests, as well as clashes between protestors and police.
On 7 July 2021, President Moïse was assassinated, allegedly by a group of 28 foreign mercenaries; three of the suspected assassins were killed and 20 arrested, while police searched for the other gunmen and the organizers of the attack. On 20 July, Ariel Henry assumed the office of acting prime minister.
In September 2022, further protests erupted in response to rising energy prices, and a federation of gangs created a blockade around Haiti's largest fuel depot. Combined with an outbreak of cholera and widespread acute hunger, the crisis led the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on Jimmy Chérizier, one of the country's gang leaders. In 2022, Canada issued sanctions against three wealthy businessmen—Gilbert Bigio, Reynold Deeb, and Sherif Abdallah—whom they accused of "participat[ing] in gross and systematic human rights violations in Haiti" along with numerous politicians including Michel Martelly, Laurent Lamothe, Jean-Henry Céant, Joseph Lambert, and Youri Latortue. A UN report to the Security Council in October 2023 likewise identified Martelly, Deeb, and Latortue as having ties to gangs.
In March 2024, acting Prime Minister Henry was prevented from returning to Haiti after a trip intended to secure a peace-keeping force of Kenyan police to fight gang violence. The power vacuum and chaos in the streets led to the scheduling of an emergency CARICOM meeting on 11 March. The same day, Henry announced his resignation under pressure from protesters, gangs, and the international community, effective upon the naming of a new prime minister and cabinet by a transitional council.
Background and origins
A Senate probe released in November 2017 concerning the 2008–2016 period (the René Préval and Michel Martelly administrations) revealed significant corruption had been funded with Venezuelan loans through the Petrocaribe program. With the departure of the United Nations force in 2017, the power vacuum was occupied by gangs, some of which had been fostered, financed, and even created by Martelly, famous for his 2008 Bandi légal album and his ties to right-wing elements in the police.
Protests broke out in February 2021 amid a dispute over President Jovenel Moïse's term. The protesters claimed that Moïse's term officially ended on 7 February 2021 and demanded that he step down. Moïse said that Haitian presidents have five years to serve according to the constitution and that he had one more year to serve since he only became president in February 2017. Protesters also expressed concerns about the 2021 Haitian constitutional referendum, a referendum proposed by Moïse which would reportedly scrap the ban on consecutive presidential terms and enable Moïse to run again.
From 2017 to 2021, with Haiti's political leadership deadlocked, public administration virtually shut down due to a lack of funding, and the judicial system in shambles, gangs seized political power through co-operative politicians, and economic control through financing by the business elite, protection rackets, kidnappings and murders.
Beginning (2018–2019)
2018 protests
Venezuela, because of its economic crisis, stopped shipping oil to Haiti in March 2018, causing fuel shortages. On 6 July 2018, the Haitian government announced an increase in the price of kerosene by 51 percent, diesel by 47 percent, and gasoline by 38 percent, which was followed by protests and rioting. U.S. airlines canceled flights into and out of Haiti. The government suspended the price increases, and the president accepted the resignation of the inexperienced Jack Guy Lafontant as prime minister on 14 July 2018, replaced one month later by Jean-Henry Céant.
In mid-August 2018, Haitian-Canadian Gilbert Mirambeau Jr. tweeted a photo of himself blindfolded holding a cardboard sign with "Kot kòb PetwoKaribe a ?" ("Where did the PetroCaribe money go?") written on it. The hashtag petrocaribechallenge was soon circulated on social media. According to Shearon Roberts, such messaging served initially to inform the international community that a regime change effort was underway. Haitian media then shared the hashtag offline, amplifying the message within the country.
Anger over the revelations and accusations from the continuing investigation simmered into the autumn and boiled over again, first in October 2018, with tense scenes and violence in Les Cayes, in Jacmel, and in Saint-Marc. A week of protests in November 2018 led to 10 deaths, including several killed when a government car "lost a wheel and plowed into a crowd."
2019 protests
February
Significant protests broke out again in February 2019 following a report from the court investigating the Petrocaribe Senate probe. Economic problems and the increased cost of living helped fuel the protests.
On 7 February, protesters targeted and damaged wealthy Haitians' luxury vehicles. The following day, the mayors of Pétion-Ville and Port-au-Prince announced the cancellation of pre-Haitian Carnival events. Two days later protestors clashed with police, with demonstrators throwing stones at the home of President Moïse, after one of his allies' security personnel struck a woman's car and began to beat her. On 12 February, protesters burned down a popular market, looted stores and assisted with a prison break in Aquin that freed all of the facility's prisoners. In Port-au-Prince, the building housing the Italian and Peruvian consulates was looted by protesters.
Moïse addressed the country on 14 February, saying he would not step down and "give the country up to armed gangs and drug traffickers." During a funeral procession on 22 February, Haitian police fired tear gas at a crowd of about 200 people carrying the casket of a man killed during protests days earlier. Opposition leader Schiller Louidor called for future protests, though the overall size of protests began to subside that day.
March
Three days after the lower house voted a censure motion against Céant's government on 18 March, Moïse replaced Céant with Jean-Michel Lapin. The change was not ratified Haitian Parliament for several months, which cost the country hundreds of millions in international aid—for which having a sitting government was a prerequisite.
June
During escalating protests on 10 June, journalist Rospide Petion was shot and killed in a company car on his way home from Radio Sans Fin in Port-au-Prince, where he had criticized the government on air before leaving the station.
October
On 4 October, thousands protested across Haiti. In Port-au-Prince, the mayor joined the protestors in calling for Moïse to step down. Two days earlier, the opposition sent a letter by delegation to the UN Secretary General denouncing the sitting president's role in the Petrocaribe affair and the government's role in a massacre in La Saline, a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince. Lyonel Trouillot wrote in L'Humanité "[w]ithout dipping into conspiracy theory, there is something worrying about the international community's silence about the Haitian situation."
On 11 October, Néhémie Joseph, another radio journalist critical of the government, was found dead in the trunk of his car in Mirebalais. On 22 October, thousands of Catholics demonstrated in the capital. Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor asked Haitian leaders to heed the people who "cannot go on any longer. We are fed up." Energy crises, road blockages (called VAR by gangs, as they halt the flow of traffic and are often used as checkpoints to collect money), and widespread unrest have led to massive drops in tourism, causing the closure of hotels in Pétion-Ville, where the Best Western Premier closed permanently, and in Cap-Haïtien, where Mont Joli was closed. Two people were killed in protests in Port-au-Prince on 27 October. Masked police officers were out on the streets demonstrating that day because of low salaries and lack of health insurance. Although the Haitian constitution calls for legislative elections in October, none were held in October 2019. The United Nations announced they had counted 42 deaths and 86 injuries since mid-September.
November
Peyi lok ("country lockdown") is how the situation was described in Haitian Creole in November 2019 after two and a half months with schools, courts, businesses, public services, and economic production largely shut down.
December
Although parents and school directors still felt uneasy amidst barricades and gunfire, schools across the country began to reopen in December.
U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale visited Haiti on 6 December, following up on U.S. Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft's November visit. During his visit, he met with the administration and with leaders from several opposing political parties, some of whom, including Fanmi Lavalas and Fusion-Mache Kontre, refused any collaboration with Moïse. On 10 December, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee began hearings on the situation in Haiti, which Frederica Wilson had pushed for. At the hearing, Maxine Waters was sharply critical of U.S. support for Moïse. Neither the State Department nor USAID was present at the hearings.
2019 actions
Moïse called for his opposition to participate in peaceful dialogue, saying that "the country's problems aren't solely political. The country's problems are social, economic and political." The national police stated that there are "malicious individuals" who had interrupted peaceful protests in the country. The opposition was being led by Jean-Charles Moïse. This opposition declined offers for dialogue, demanded President Moïse's resignation, and organized a nationwide general strike to attempt to force him to resign from office. Alongside opposition lawmakers, he called for a transitional government to replace Moïse: "If Jovenel Moïse does not want to step down from power, we are going to name an interim president in the coming days."
The Port-au-Prince newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported on 18 February 2019 that a Haitian citizen and seven non-Haitians were arrested in the city. At the time of their arrest, they were carrying rifles, pistols, drones, and satellite phones in their vehicle, which did not have any license plates. Haitian Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond confirmed that among them were five Americans. According to the editor of Haiti Liberté, the group included two former Navy SEALs, a former Blackwater employee, and two Serbian mercenaries living in the U.S. They were tasked with protecting the former head of the National Lottery, who intended to transfer US$80 million from a PetroCaribe bank account—controlled jointly by the president, the prime minister, and the president of the Central Bank—to a bank account solely controlled by President Moïse.
2020–2022
2020 protests
In September and October 2020, more protests occurred throughout the country in reaction to the perception of an insufficient government response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Haiti, in particular concerning support for those who lost their jobs because of the lockdown. Due to the lack of parliamentary elections, Moïse was governing through executive orders. Police held protests demanding better pay and working conditions. The police exchanged fire with Haitian soldiers outside the National Palace where police were protesting working conditions in February. In early 2020, a United Nations report said the Haitian police were corrupt and failing to protect the population.
On 4 December, the Haitian National Police undertook its first operation under Léon Charles into Village de Dieu, in an effort to subdue the Five Seconds Base gang with tanks. While Charles claimed success, eye-witnesses were less convinced.
2021 protests
January
On 14 January 2021, hundreds demonstrated in Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haïtien, Jacmel, Saint-Marc, and Gonaïves against Moïse. Most of the demonstrations were peaceful, but some violence was reported. On 20 January, hundreds again demonstrated in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien to protest against Moïse. One woman was shot by rubber bullets, and several others were wounded during protests. On 28 January, journalists, lawmakers, police officers, retirees, former police officers, and human rights judges led protests against human rights abuses and police brutality, violence, and repression against protesters and chanted "When they don't get paid, we're the ones they call!"
February
On 7 February supporters of the opposition against Moïse allegedly attempted a coup d'état, claiming he should have stepped down five years after the end of Michel Martelly's administration on 7 Feb 2016, despite the year-long delay before he was sworn in in 2017. Moïse stated he had been the target of an assassination attempt and ordered the arrest of 23 people, including three Supreme Court judges. Throughout February, clashes with protesters and security forces occurred in Port-au-Prince, and Jacmel. On 25 February, at least 25 were killed and many injured during a prison break at Croix-des-Bouquet Civil Prison, during which gang leader Arnel Joseph escaped. Joseph was later found and killed in L'Estère.