The February-March gang offensive that had effectively brought Haiti to the brink of state collapse triggered an intense scramble within the international community to formulate a response adequate to the severity of the crisis. The United States, CARICOM, the United Nations, Canada, and France all engaged in intensive consultations about how to support the political transition, accelerate the security mission deployment, and address the humanitarian emergency that was simultaneously unfolding.
The US position was central to any international response given its historical influence over Haiti and its role in supporting Henry’s government. American officials who had backed Henry for years were now pivoting rapidly to support the transitional arrangement, working with CARICOM to design the Transitional Presidential Council and to facilitate Henry’s eventual resignation.
The urgency of the accelerating situation created pressure to make decisions quickly that might otherwise have been deliberated more carefully. The design of the transitional council, the selection of its members, and the conditions for Henry’s departure were all negotiated under extreme time pressure with Haiti’s major crisis unfolding in real time. The imperfections in these arrangements would have consequences for months and years to come.
Haitian civil society organizations that had been demanding action for years found themselves simultaneously vindicated — the crisis had proved as severe as they had warned — and frustrated that the international response was still driven primarily by international actors’ preferences rather than by the comprehensive Haitian-led transitional process they had been advocating for. The speed of change was welcome; the degree of genuine Haitian agency in driving it was limited.