Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere that hasn't received any vaccine. But this isn't breaking news stuff. What is, though, is of Haiti being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and how it is spiralling into a "failed state", a favourite term of Western politicians and some unthinking press.
Malaysia was called that too by Bloomberg in a recent opinion piece. Put in Bloomberg's undiscerning language, Malaysia "is staggering down the road to failed statehood". The reason? White flags, in Bloomberg's way of seeing, seem a surrender to dysfunction.
Non-native speakers of English we may be, but at least we know "seeming" and "being" are miles apart. Besides, even if it is true, why are the United States, Italy, Britain and other Western countries not similarly labelled? After all, stimulus packages to businesses are white flags by another name.
Haiti, too, is a victim of such purblind op-eds. True, losing a head of state to the bullets of hired killers as president Jovenel Moïse did on July 7, isn't regime change by ballots. But like all stories, Haiti's narrative has a backstory. And the story behind the story is Western meddling.
Dr Edna Bonhomme, a Haitian American scholar with an interest in history, is right when she warns us in a tweet to expect international forces to use the killing as an excuse to further militarise Haiti. To be fair, US President Joe Biden hasn't sent any troop to Haiti. But if the long history of violent foreign intervention is anything to go by, Biden may just do that. Or it might be France, the old overlord.
If geopolitical observers see Iran or Cuba in Haiti, they are not wrong. The US just can't help but meddle in the affairs of other states. The US is understandably happy to see Havana bursting with protesters. Regime change sponsored by Washington often begins this way. Granted, Havana could have done better for Cubans, but guess who is making sure the communist regime there fails? And miserably, at that. No matter who sits in the White House, the poor Cubans are kept in misery through sanctions. Washington's hope is one day a "Havana Spring" will bring forth a US-friendly regime. What is true for Havana is true, mutatis mutandis, for Teheran, Kabul and Basra. What Washington can't get by ballots, it will by bullets. Bonhomme, writing in Al Jazeera, sees such a possibility from Haiti's powerful neighbour. After all, when Haitian president Jean Vibrun Guillaume was assassinated in July 1915, US president Woodrow Wilson sent his troops to occupy Haiti. The troops stayed on for 19 years, imposing "Jim Crow racial segregation and restricted press freedom", often violently. The US occupation didn't just end in 1934. It continued by other means. Call it occupation from a distance. In 1991, US meddling took the form of its Central Intelligence Agency-funded coup that overthrew Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Astride. Ironically, he was back in the seat of power in 1994 "under the protection of US troops", as Bonhomme puts it. Six years later, Astride was removed yet again. If Haitian politics swing like a pendulum does, the US has only itself to blame. Haitians like Bonhomme want the foreign powers to allow the locals to build a future for themselves. The US must begin to let go this September when Haiti holds its election.