Haiti Doesn’t Need War. It Needs Peace.
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March 13, 2026
Haiti Doesn’t Need War. It Needs Peace.
As Haiti confronts deepening violence and political collapse, calls for military intervention risk repeating a long history of foreign policies that have destabilized the country.
Jake Johnston
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Motorcyclist and passenger riding in the streets of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, on February 27, 2025. Although gang violence is omnipresent in the capital, daily life continues as usual.(Guerinault Louis / Anadolu via Getty Images)
In early January, Haitian police working alongside private military contractors and Kenyan security forces, launched a major offensive to wrest territorial control of downtown Port-au-Prince from the clutches of the country’s armed groups. Explosive drones rained down from the sky and, at ground level, bullets sprayed into the densely packed communities.
A 28-year-old Haitian, who had left the country for the United States and been trying to relocate the family he left behind, told a local news outlet that his brother, sister, and father had all been killed in the police operation. He had been scrambling to get them to a safer place for months. But the search for a new family home had been hampered by landlords’ refusal to rent to anybody from one of Haiti’s impoverished neighborhoods. The stigma was too great. “Sometimes we had to lie about where we came from to avoid being associated with bandits,” he said.
The government told residents to leave, but few had anywhere to go. The day the family intended to move, the police began their attack. The man’s father and brother were killed by gunfire while inside their house; then a drone fell, instantly killing his sister. In total, nearly 120 people were killed in just one neighborhood, a local human rights organization later revealed, almost half of whom were civilians.
After years of steady descent, of seemingly ever-increasing violence and economic hardship, many in Haiti were understandably relieved to finally see the state’s security forces hit back against the bandi, despite the human toll—such is the desperation for an opportunity to breathe again. After weeks of the most aggressive security operations Haiti had seen in years, the police were able to reestablish a presence in an important commercial hub downtown, bringing, if even for a short time, some semblance of normalcy, of stability.
Later this year, a UN-authorized “Gang Suppression Force” is expected to be more fully deployed, bolstering the nearly 1,000 Kenyan forces already in the country. The goal of the force is clear: to kill the bandits and clear the way for the country’s first election in a decade. Speaking at the …
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Haiti Doesn’t Need War. It Needs Peace.
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Current Issue
March 13, 2026
Haiti Doesn’t Need War. It Needs Peace.
As Haiti confronts deepening violence and political collapse, calls for military intervention risk repeating a long history of foreign policies that have destabilized the country.
Jake Johnston
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
Motorcyclist and passenger riding in the streets of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, on February 27, 2025. Although gang violence is omnipresent in the capital, daily life continues as usual.(Guerinault Louis / Anadolu via Getty Images)
In early January, Haitian police working alongside private military contractors and Kenyan security forces, launched a major offensive to wrest territorial control of downtown Port-au-Prince from the clutches of the country’s armed groups. Explosive drones rained down from the sky and, at ground level, bullets sprayed into the densely packed communities.
A 28-year-old Haitian, who had left the country for the United States and been trying to relocate the family he left behind, told a local news outlet that his brother, sister, and father had all been killed in the police operation. He had been scrambling to get them to a safer place for months. But the search for a new family home had been hampered by landlords’ refusal to rent to anybody from one of Haiti’s impoverished neighborhoods. The stigma was too great. “Sometimes we had to lie about where we came from to avoid being associated with bandits,” he said.
The government told residents to leave, but few had anywhere to go. The day the family intended to move, the police began their attack. The man’s father and brother were killed by gunfire while inside their house; then a drone fell, instantly killing his sister. In total, nearly 120 people were killed in just one neighborhood, a local human rights organization later revealed, almost half of whom were civilians.
After years of steady descent, of seemingly ever-increasing violence and economic hardship, many in Haiti were understandably relieved to finally see the state’s security forces hit back against the bandi, despite the human toll—such is the desperation for an opportunity to breathe again. After weeks of the most aggressive security operations Haiti had seen in years, the police were able to reestablish a presence in an important commercial hub downtown, bringing, if even for a short time, some semblance of normalcy, of stability.
Later this year, a UN-authorized “Gang Suppression Force” is expected to be more fully deployed, bolstering the nearly 1,000 Kenyan forces already in the country. The goal of the force is clear: to kill the bandits and clear the way for the country’s first election in a decade. Speaking at the …
Haiti Doesn’t Need War. It Needs Peace.
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.
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Haiti Doesn’t Need War. It Needs Peace.
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Magazine
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Current Issue
March 13, 2026
Haiti Doesn’t Need War. It Needs Peace.
As Haiti confronts deepening violence and political collapse, calls for military intervention risk repeating a long history of foreign policies that have destabilized the country.
Jake Johnston
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
Motorcyclist and passenger riding in the streets of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, on February 27, 2025. Although gang violence is omnipresent in the capital, daily life continues as usual.(Guerinault Louis / Anadolu via Getty Images)
In early January, Haitian police working alongside private military contractors and Kenyan security forces, launched a major offensive to wrest territorial control of downtown Port-au-Prince from the clutches of the country’s armed groups. Explosive drones rained down from the sky and, at ground level, bullets sprayed into the densely packed communities.
A 28-year-old Haitian, who had left the country for the United States and been trying to relocate the family he left behind, told a local news outlet that his brother, sister, and father had all been killed in the police operation. He had been scrambling to get them to a safer place for months. But the search for a new family home had been hampered by landlords’ refusal to rent to anybody from one of Haiti’s impoverished neighborhoods. The stigma was too great. “Sometimes we had to lie about where we came from to avoid being associated with bandits,” he said.
The government told residents to leave, but few had anywhere to go. The day the family intended to move, the police began their attack. The man’s father and brother were killed by gunfire while inside their house; then a drone fell, instantly killing his sister. In total, nearly 120 people were killed in just one neighborhood, a local human rights organization later revealed, almost half of whom were civilians.
After years of steady descent, of seemingly ever-increasing violence and economic hardship, many in Haiti were understandably relieved to finally see the state’s security forces hit back against the bandi, despite the human toll—such is the desperation for an opportunity to breathe again. After weeks of the most aggressive security operations Haiti had seen in years, the police were able to reestablish a presence in an important commercial hub downtown, bringing, if even for a short time, some semblance of normalcy, of stability.
Later this year, a UN-authorized “Gang Suppression Force” is expected to be more fully deployed, bolstering the nearly 1,000 Kenyan forces already in the country. The goal of the force is clear: to kill the bandits and clear the way for the country’s first election in a decade. Speaking at the …
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