While New Year’s Day brought in 2025, the same date also marks the independence of Haiti, 221 years ago on January 1, 1804. It celebrates Black resilience and the culmination of a revolution that won liberation from slavery to being the first free republic.
Today, Haiti is in disarray, submerged in political turmoil, abject poverty, violence, and upheaval. Some may see it as a picture of two extremes. However, what has happened to Haiti since independence in 1804 was by design, not by happenstance. Beneath the layers of crises afflicting the Caribbean nation are centuries of foreign meddling, says Haiti analysts and observers.
“If you look at history, it’s not two extremes,” said Dr. Jemima Pierre, professor at the Social Justice Institute of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
“Where Haiti is now, Haiti’s been before. You know 1915 to 1934, that was a complete takeover of the Haitian state by the U.S. government under the auspices of the League of Nations, the same way that we have, under the offices of the United Nations,” she told The Final Call.
Ms. Pierre was referring to the invasion and subsequent occupation of Haiti by the United States, which she explained was a complete “legalized control” and “occupation” of Haiti.
Furthermore, the arrangement was disingenuous to Haiti as a founding member of the League of Nations. To allow the occupation of a sovereign nation, while touting the right of sovereignty for free nations was hypocrisy.
Expounding on the Haitian revolution, she noted prospects were very bleak at the beginning of the revolution, but it still happened—at a moment when there was little hope. No one expected the revolution to just emerge and succeed, which is something that must be kept front and foremost, Ms. Pierre said.
“What’s been going on in Haiti for the past 221 years is a counter-revolution to this revolution. And there have been different stages of it,” she said. “And so, for me, I don’t see it as a failure, as much as I see it as an onslaught, a 221-year onslaught, counter-revolution against this revolution.
“The reason they have to keep doing it is because the people still walk around with their heads held high,” reasons Ms. Pierre.
The European powers that Haiti defeated in her revolution have determined not to allow the example to repeat itself. For instance, besides massive economic embargos, the U.S. refused to recognize Haiti until the 1860s. In addition, Haiti was forced to pay restitution to France that built up France but left Haiti a vassal state.
Today, people don’t grasp the role of U.S. imperialism all over the world, Ms. Pierre explained, citing the example of Libya where 14 years after a U.S.-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) onslaught, sanctions, counter-revolution, funding and importing al-Qaeda elements is in a state of uncertainty. What happened to Haiti, happened to Libya and now Syria from the same playbook.
“We have to see Haiti in terms of the broader process of global movements to get rid of European control of the world,” she stated.
Today, foreign meddling and mischief-making has been done through The Core Group, a self-styled council consisting of the diplomats of foreign countries with political and economic interests in Haiti, combined with the representatives of a number of multilateral organizations and agencies (including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank), said a Fact Sheet from the Black Alliance for Peace, an anti-imperialist organization.
While the membership of The Core Group has fluctuated since its initial formation, it currently has nine members: Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the United States, the European Union, the Organization of American States, and the United Nations Organization.
“Significantly, the group has never had a Haitian representative, and often meets without Haitian representation,” said the Fact Sheet.
The Core Group was set up to coordinate the various branches and elements of the United Nations occupation in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The group plays an active, interventionist role in Haiti’s everyday political affairs, said the Black Alliance for Peace.
It has worked to extend and protect foreign economic interests in Haiti. And it has consistently intervened in Haiti’s sovereign political affairs, often without the collaboration or consent of the Haitian government. Importantly, there is no prescribed term-limit on The Core Group’s mandate; theoretically it could be in place in perpetuity.
Despite the presence of foreign entities like The Core Group, which works under the guise of helping Haiti, turmoil abounds.
Over the course of 2024, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded more than 5,350 people killed and over 2,155 injured directly resulting from endless acts of violence.
The total deaths and injuries have surpassed 17,000 since 2022. Notwithstanding, these numbers are augmented by hundreds of thousands of displaced Haitians, including around 350,000 children.
In an October 2024 statement, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, emphasized: The international community must implement a targeted arms embargo to curb the illicit flow of firearms and ammunition to non-State actors in Haiti, and asset freezes imposed by the UN Security Council to stem gang violence in Haiti.
“I am convinced that the security crisis, the rule of law crisis, and the governance crisis that Haitians are enduring can be resolved,” Mr. Türk said.
The Security Council unanimously renewed its arms embargo on Oct. 18, 2024, in a measure that has existed off and on the country since 1993. A month before in September, the Council re-authorized a controversial deployment of a Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti for another 12 months.
The Kenya-led and primarily U.S.-financed force was deployed under the guise of assisting Haiti’s beleaguered National Police Force. Kenya currently has around 410 police officers in Haiti that is expected to grow to 2,500. For now, the country remains mired in crisis. Things appear to be moving toward more of the same or worse in 2025.
“I think there are a couple of things we need to watch out for. What’s going to happen in the region? The U.S. empire is consolidating its power,” Ms. Pierre said, projecting into 2025.
She said the region must be closely watched with President-Elect Donald Trump talking about retaking the Panama Canal and the increased saber-rattling toward Venezuela.
“So, it’s going to be a lot more upheaval as the empire tries its last stand,” Ms. Pierre said. “As it pushes to take over the Panama Canal again, have more bases there … a stronger military presence in the region, which will impact Haiti,” she said.
“Haiti is a small country of immense importance to our world,” said Mr. Turk. “In terms of human rights, we can never forget its revolution against slavery and colonial oppression, surely one of the most inspiring chapters in human history.”
Haiti is exceptional because of this exceptional history, but if it is not understood as part of the broader process of U.S. and Western imperialist control, solidarity with the Haitian cause cannot be achieved. Because it won’t be seen as a continued struggle for national liberation, Ms. Pierre said.
“It’s important for Black people, [that] true solidarity with Haiti is to understand the imperialist onslaught against that country for 200 years that the people who live in the U.S. in the heart of empire understand that there’s nothing that the empire does for Haiti that’s for the good of Haiti,” Ms. Pierre said.
“They don’t care about Black people in the U.S. They don’t care about Black people anywhere else. And so don’t ever believe what the U.S, says. What we need to do as solidarity is to agitate against whatever the U.S. is planning for Haiti,” she said.
