December 19, 2022
Shortly after the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, CEPR launched the Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch blog. For more than a decade, the blog has tracked multinational aid efforts in Haiti with an eye to ensuring they are oriented toward the needs of the Haitian people, and that aid is not used to undermine Haitians’ right to self-determination.
Over the course of the past dozen years, CEPR Senior Research Associate and lead author of the Haiti blog, Jake Johnston, has closely followed developments in Haiti and the interaction with US foreign policy. His investigative reporting and in-depth research skills have made him an authority on the real stories behind the headlines.
This year, Jake authored this investigative article that revealed new details about suspects in the plot to assassinate Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse in July last year. Jake highlighted these findings and discussed the parallel “nation-building” efforts in Afghanistan and Haiti in an article for Le Monde Diplomatique .
Jake has followed the deteriorating political situation in Haiti, writing this post after de facto prime minister Ariel Henry requested the help of international military forces amid nationwide protests and increasing insecurity. In that piece, Jake outlined the long and problematic history of military intervention in the country, noting that many of today’s troubles are directly linked to prior interventions.
On November 1, Jake detailed a letter sent to President Biden and signed by more than 90 organizations expressing “profound concern about the proposed deployment of military force to Haiti.” The signers include faith-based, human rights, diaspora, and other civil society organizations with long-standing ties to Haiti. He continues to write about how any military intervention is likely to morph into yet another long-term, foreign-led attempt at nation building in Haiti.
Jake will have a new book coming out next winter. The book, Aid State: The Fight for Haiti and What it Reveals About the World , serves as a corrective to those who have labeled Haiti a failed state, detailing how decades of foreign intervention and foreign aid have undermined the Haitian state and the nation’s democracy.
CEPR has been able to shine a light on the myriad issues facing Haiti – groundbreaking stories that would not have seen the light of day without Jake’s work. We would not be able to do this kind of investigative reporting if it weren’t for the support of individual donors like you.
We are most grateful to those of you who have already donated to our Spotlight campaign. If you haven’t, please consider making a donation today. Because the last thing the people of Haiti need at this time is more foreign intervention.
In Solidarity,
CEPR
