#FreeHaiti - To Destroy and to Overthrow, To Build and Plant

Well, Haiti finally got the world's attention. Over the past few years it has been strange to see so much suffering and sadness while the international community, in general, didn't seem to really know or care much. Sure, there was a lot going on in other places of the world too, but if you read my last post, the story I shared about one young man murdered for doing the right thing was just a small drop in the bucket. However, gangs have now forced the resignation of the Prime Minister by releasing thousands of prisoners and attacking airports, now reaching a level that seems to have gained international attention. 

I was even interviewed by BBC twice this past week.  They asked me about Haitians fleeing to the Dominican Republic during this time. Here is the radio interview: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0hkqk09?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile&fbclid=IwAR23oOeQJrscFoeZlrchZh07eYCKKE20JDqLy6FIw3USqMT2I7SLWmaz-Vw

If you want a good summary of what's going on, here is a video someone shared this week. This reporter's pronunciation of names is off and I'll put some notes at the bottom of some points that seem a bit incorrect to me, but other than that, it's full of enlightening information for anyone who is a bit ignorant on the subject but would like to learn the details. 

1. The reporter, whose name is Simon Whistler, says gangs united for the first time this past month and also that Barbeque formed a gang called G9. I understood that G9 was the union of 9 different gangs, not necessarily started by Barbeque, but joined by him years ago. So the joining of gangs is not necessarily as new as he says. 

2. Whistler says G9 was funded in half by President Jovenel Moise. This is the first I've heard this. Barbeque was trying to get Jovenel out of power when he was assassinated and once he was assassinated, held him up as a martyr and realized he was working for the people, which is why he was assassinated. I don't know for sure, of course, but I do get lots of updates through a Facebook group run by Yvonne Trimble, a missionary of close to 50 years in Haiti. She and her husband had a personal relationship with Moise and vouch for his character. 

3. This isn't really sharing a difference with anything the reporter said, but in addition to what he said. I have heard a lot of current support for Guy Phillippe, who was mentioned in this video, after Ariel's resignation. People want him to lead. I found it really strange that when the Colombian merceneries went to assassinate Jovenel Moise in 2021, they were pretending to be DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), and found it even more weird that the average Haitian in the area seemed to know what the DEA was. 

I just recently found out that DEA arrested Guy Phillippe in Haiti years ago and put him in prison in the US for around 6 years. I found this so strange and would like to learn more, mostly because I have never heard of such a thing happening here in the DR. You hear of and see Dominicans who immigrated to the US or Canada and got deported after criminal activity, but for a US agency to go to Haiti and bring a Haitian to the US and put him in jail for crimes they accused him of on Haitian soil... that sounds so off to me. It sounds like it's not their jurisdiction, but that is what Haitians always complain of and dislike - foreign intervention. Again, I need to learn more. 

So it seems that a lot of Haitians do not believe that Guy Phillippe was a criminal but that that was an abusive political move. They feel that Guy Phillippe was sort of used by a foreign led effort to get Aristide out of power and then treated badly afterwards. 

4. The last thing that just is a bit off in this video is that Whistler talks about an upcoming refugee crisis at the DR border and Haitians taking boats to go to the US as if that's a new thing. Both situations have surged over the past 3 years, they just didn't get the world's attention until now. And yes, the DR has not seemed to have had a problem turning up the deportations more and in very inhumane ways, as the US has not had a problem shipping Haitians back to their misery after they risked their lives, and some lost theirs, to make the boat trip. But we'll see what the future holds. 

If I had any say, I would recommend Commissioner Muscadin in Miragoane for higher leadership, since he seemed to lead his town in taking a stand in keeping gangs out, as I shared in my last post. Additionally, this might sound crazy, but when I heard about the prison outbreaks, I wondered if it was Satan gaining ground or God's grace being extended. I've honestly been waiting for many years for someone in my life to get the punishment I think he has deserved. I pondered this same thing over and over as he seemed to get out of situation after situation with favor. I came to determine it was God's grace being extended, and that grace seemed to create change in the right direction. 

Are we about to see a huge refugee crisis like this reporter predicts, or have we already seen that? Should the international community have intervened with military to keep things from getting to this point, or was this the point it needed to get to? 

In the book of Jeremiah, God appoints his prophet "to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant." (Jeremiah 1:10) If this is what is going on in Haiti, we can have hope, because it means the building and planting stage is next. 

Am I blaming God for what is happening or giving him responsibility? No. He doesn't make decisions for us or always intervene in the natural consequences of our decisions and actions. However, did this happen despite the earnest prayers of his faithful servants? I mentioned before that while staying in Grisongarde, Haiti the church bell rang well before sunrise each morning (in an area with no electricity), calling the faithful to come join and pray. God hears and he cares. I do believe we will see his plan unfold still. 

It seems that the biggest contributor to Haiti's dysfunction, despite the fact that public education is unavailable to the majority, is the fact that the elite fund gangs, which Simon Whistler does a good job of explaining. This seems so atrocious, of course, and hopefully they will express some ounce of love for their country and stop such activity. However, where did this practice come from? The video says this practice started with President Aristide, and maybe that's true, but who was in leadership before Aristide? Francois Duvalier and then his son Jean Claude Duvalier were ruthless dictators for decades. 

I've also mentioned this before, but something very disturbing while reading a biography about Papa Doc (Francois) was the support he got from the US despite their knowledge of him being a ruthless murder. I honestly had to stop reading, but one account was that he assassinated his daughter's husband and his groomsmen right after their wedding because he didn't approve of him for his daughter. Despite the knowledge of such things, the US gave him money to be their ally against Cuba. So really, the entirety of Haiti was the United States' gang. 

I'll end with a post I recently saw from a Haiti mission group. Please keep up the prayers. He is working amidst all of this.