Haiti’s collapse is not an accident of fate, nor merely the outcome of foreign meddling. At its very core lies the chronic failure of its own elites—political, economic, and intellectual—who, decade after decade, have consistently chosen narrow privilege over national survival.
The most recent chapter illustrates this betrayal. The December 21 Accord of 2022, signed under Prime Minister Ariel Henry, was presented as a roadmap out of crisis. In reality, it became yet another elite pact, designed to recycle political figures and shield entrenched interests. Civil society and grassroots organizations—the voices of the majority—were sidelined in favor of backroom negotiations. The transitional council formed in 2024, with its endless disputes over power-sharing, confirmed what Haitians already knew: these agreements are less about nation-building than about securing positions and access to resources.
The result has been paralysis. While politicians argue over seats and signatures, gangs consolidate control, the justice system disintegrates, and the state loses its most basic functions. Instead of steering Haiti toward stability, the elite class has treated each transition as a business deal, hollowing out the very idea of governance.
Economic elites have not done better. Rather than mobilizing capital for development, they have maintained monopolies, protected import dependency, and enriched themselves through deals with whoever holds temporary power. Meanwhile, the intellectual class—those who should defend truth and accountability—too often remains silent or complicit, seeking influence rather than courage.
The consequences are catastrophic: hospitals abandoned, schools shuttered, ports controlled by armed groups, and hundreds of thousands fleeing abroad. In this vacuum, Haiti drifts further into dependency on foreign missions and international dictates, its sovereignty reduced to a slogan.
No international force, no new accord, will save Haiti unless its elites abandon the politics of self-preservation. Their choices—not destiny—have turned the first Black republic into a nation adrift. History will not absolve them. The question remains: will they finally rise to steer Haiti toward renewal, or be remembered as the captains who watched from the deck while the ship sank?
Jimmy Férol Bourdeau