How Haiti Unraveled: Violence, Quakes, and Collapse

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]bad things that had happened in Haiti for the past few years.

[00:00:04]Haiti has faced a convergence of catastrophes, including extreme gang violence controlling after 90% of Port-au-Prince, political instability following the 2021 presidential assassination, and devastating natural disasters.

[00:00:20]Over 1.4 million people are displaced [music] amid severe food, fuel, and healthcare shortages with widespread kidnappings and cholera outbreaks exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

[00:00:34]Key bad things, catastrophes and crises in Haiti include gang warfare and violence. Roughly 100 gangs control 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, creating a failed state scenario.

[00:00:48]Over 5,500 people were killed in gang violence from March 2025 [music] to January 2026.

[00:00:55]Political turmoil. The assassination [music] of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 caused a severe power vacuum with no presidential elections [music] held since, leaving the country without democratically elected officials.

[00:01:10]Natural disasters. A catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010 killed over 200,000 people.

[00:01:18]A 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 2021 followed by tropical storm Grace killed over 2,000 and destroyed thousands of homes.

[00:01:28]Humanitarian crisis and disease.

[00:01:31]The collapse [music] of infrastructure has led to massive cholera outbreaks and extreme hunger.

[00:01:37]Kidnappings and displacement. Gangs frequently kidnap citizens [music] and over 1.4 million people have been displaced due to violence.

[00:01:47]Economic [music] collapse. The Haitian economy has shrunk significantly with businesses closed, [music] high inflation, and massive fuel shortages.

[00:01:58]Foreign intervention failures. [music] Various international interventions have failed to stabilize the country and donor aid has sometimes failed to materialize, leaving many still living under tarps years after disasters.

[00:02:11]>> [music] >> How did Haiti get here? The country has been in a state of electoral and constitutional [music] turmoil since the assassination of the president, Jovenel Moïse, in 2021 [music] at the hands of Colombian mercenaries with unknown paymasters, but the immediate crisis can [music] be traced back further.

[00:02:29]Haiti has not held functional elections since 2019, and the country has been in a fragile state since the 2010 earthquake that the following month sent the situation spiraling [music] out of control.

[00:02:42]Moïse was replaced by an acting president, Ariel Henry, who was unelected and widely viewed as illegitimate.

[00:02:50]In September, the G9 gang coalition blockaded the main port and fuel terminal, causing fuel prices [music] to double when Ariel Henry announced a cut to fuel subsidies, a development that brought the crisis [music] to new heights.

[00:03:04]Haiti is now experiencing its worst ever [music] famine with 4.7 million people facing acute hunger.

[00:03:12]At the same time, it is impossible to understand the current situation without acknowledging the dark history of international interventions, including US occupation from 1915 to 1934, that have blighted Haiti.

[00:03:27]Those interventions have shaped Haiti.

[00:03:30]There's a chain-link connection.

[00:03:33]Long before the litany of recent disasters, the Duvalier dictatorship, the rule of father and son François, or Papa Doc, and Jean-Claude, or Baby Doc, Duvalier from 1957-1986, [music] destroyed the hopes of a functioning state that serves the nation.

[00:03:53]Thanks for your attention. Please share the video with your contacts as you continue to be safe, >> [music] >> smart, and strong.

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