UN urges deployment of international ‘specialized support force’ to Haiti
GuardianMar 21, 2023
A US District Court in Boston, Mass. ruled on Tuesday that former Haitian mayor Jean Morose Viliena must pay more than $15.5M in damages for waging a campaign against political opponents that included a killing, attempted murder, and torture.
The jury ruled in favor of a 2017 civil lawsuit filed against Viliena by David Boniface, Juders Ysemé, and Nissage Martyr, alleging that he and his political allies were persecuting them or their relatives. Martyr died after the filing and was replaced by his son Nissandere Martyr as a plaintiff.
The ruling is both a relief for the plaintiffs and a sobering reminder of the lawlessness that has long prevailed in Haiti, with its notoriously weak and dysfunctional rule of law. Add to this the rampant gang violence, with hundreds of deaths this year alone, which has further exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis. It's time for the international community to intervene to protect Haiti from itself.
While the ruling is a stark reminder of the lawlessness that prevails in Haiti, the fact that the Caribbean island has never had a real chance to develop as a sovereign nation since the 1804 revolution is readily ignored. It is the West that has always interfered in Haiti's internal affairs and destabilized the country in order to determine its fate. Only as a truly independent nation will Haiti be able to protect its own citizens.