Dual Prime Ministers Struggle for Power, Gang Violence and Rising Epidemic Darkness Grips Haiti

After the assassination of President Moisés of Haiti, our diplomatic country, on the 7th, the country is in serious turmoil. The New York Times and the Washington Post pointed out that Haiti has been in social turmoil for a long time, and now there is a situation where interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph and the new Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was appointed before the death of Moise, both claim to have the power of governance. This, coupled with the rampant gang violence and Wuhan pneumonia (COVID-19), has led to fears of further disaster for the local community.

According to the Haitian constitution, if the presidency is vacant for any reason, the first agent is the president of the Supreme Court, but the president unfortunately passed away recently after contracting the disease, leaving a vacuum in the government. The interim Prime Minister José de has since indicated that he will take over the government, including the command of the army and police force, and declared a state of siege in the country, but constitutionalists have questioned the lack of authority.

José was appointed as interim prime minister only three months ago, and was scheduled to hand over his powers when Henry, the new prime minister appointed by Moyes, took office, but unfortunately Moyes was killed in an attack before Henry could take the oath. Despite this, Henry still insists that he is the real prime minister.

Constitutionalists and diplomats alike fear a social collapse and a wave of exodus. The U.S. government is also worried that the history of the influx of refugees to the U.S. state of Florida after the military coup in Haiti in 1991 may repeat itself, and has been the first to express its support for José de.

State Department spokesman Price stressed on the 8th that José de was the “man in power” at the time of the president’s assassination, and that the U.S. would cooperate with him as usual, but also indicated that the U.S. side continued to contact Henry. In addition, the top UN official in Haiti also supports the legitimate governance of the country by José de.

More worrisome is the fact that Haiti was in crisis long before Moyes’ death. The U.N. noted that in recent weeks, there have been frequent exchanges of fire between gangs and police in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which have displaced thousands of people. The Haitian NGO National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) said that at least 278 people have died in gang-related violence this year.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported last month that social disorder in Haiti has reached unprecedented levels, causing problems such as school closures, loss of livelihoods, family breakdown and fear among the population.

In addition, temporary shelters where people fleeing the violence are living have become a breeding ground for the spread of the Wuhan pneumonia virus. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) cites the example of a sports center in the town of Carrefour, south of Port-au-Prince, where 1,100 homeless people, nearly 500 of them children, are in desperate need of water, sanitation, and lung screening measures.

Doctors Without Borders and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) also said that Haiti does not have adequate screening measures, it is difficult to predict the trend of the epidemic, and the hospitalization rate has recently soared, hospital beds and oxygen supply are insufficient.

According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 19,192 people have been infected and 467 have died so far in Haiti, a population of about 11 million, but health experts generally believe the actual number is much higher.