As 2020 drew to a close, Haiti faced the end of the year with its multiple crises unresolved and in several respects worsened. The political standoff between Moïse’s government and opposition groups continued without resolution. COVID-19 had added a new dimension of public health emergency to the existing humanitarian crisis. Gang violence had expanded its territorial reach and intensified its impact on civilian populations. And the economy had contracted further, deepening the poverty of millions of Haitians already living at the margins of survival.
The political calendar for 2021 was ominous. Moïse claimed that his presidential term ran until February 2022, citing the delayed start of his actual governance. The opposition argued that his term ended in February 2021, consistent with a strict reading of the constitutional calendar. The dispute over the presidential term had the potential to trigger a constitutional crisis that could make the political situation even more unstable.
International partners remained engaged but had been unable to broker a political solution that all sides could accept. The Core Group continued its calls for dialogue and elections, but the gaps between the parties remained fundamental and the goodwill needed to bridge them was not in evidence.
For ordinary Haitians exhausted by years of crisis, the prospect of another year of instability was deeply demoralizing. Yet the same resilience, creativity, and community solidarity that had sustained Haitian society through previous catastrophes remained very much alive — a foundation that any eventual recovery would have to build upon.