Haiti

République d'Haïti

The cholera epidemic in Haiti, which began in late 2010, is bad and getting worse, for reasons that are well understood and that the aid community has done far too little to reso...(full article)

“The glass is 10 percent full,” says Nigel Fisher, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for reconstruction efforts in Haiti. “It’s now time to tackle the remaining 90 perc...(full article)

Picture this: soldiers from a foreign army are stationed near the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Sewage running from their base has long polluted the waterway, but the author...(full article)

While I was in Haiti this past month, a 4.6 magnitude earthquake struck the country. There was no reported loss of life and no damage, thankfully. But there were an awful lot of ...(full article)

A big question is whether Martelly's efforts to market the idea of a new Haiti - one that is open for investment, tourism and modernization- include sweeping away the atrocities ...(full article)

Most Recent Articles

The Oxymoron of Haitian Justice - Washington Post

HAITI’S JUSTICE SYSTEM, long an instrument of official impunity for the rich, powerful and well-connected, is busy whitewashing the human rights crimes committed under the co...

How American NGOs Are Hurting Haiti - Winnipeg Free Press

Most of the money ends up going back to the donor nations -- less than two per cent of the reconstruction contracts let out so far has gone to Haitian companies. Almost all U.S. ...

Haiti's Politics of Blame - Jacob Kushner, Global Post

For all the talk about a Haitian people who have grown impatient with the slow pace of a largely foreign-led reconstruction effort, what Haitians are clamoring for most is accoun...

How Haiti Can Be Rich Again - Laurent Dubois & Deborah Jenson, NY Times

Haiti wasn’t always the “poorest nation in the Western hemisphere,” though it’s almost impossible to read about the country today without coming across that phrase. In the ...

Haiti's Slow Recovery - New York Times

The Haitian government badly needs a national strategy for creating permanent housing and jobs, to resettle people out of Port-au-Prince. The coming year should be one in which H...

Haiti 2 Years Later: Half a Million Still in Camps - Trenton Daniel, AP

While U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and others vowed that the world would help Haiti "build back better," and $2.38 billion has been spen...

UN Must Face Up to Its Haiti Disaster - Mark Weisbrot, The Guardian

If an international agency brought a deadly disease to New York City that killed more people than the 9/11 attacks, what would be the consequences? Could they simply brush it off ...

Haiti's Terrible Idea - Washington Post

President Martelly of Haiti has renewed his campaign promise to restore the nation's army, which was abolished for good reasons 16 years ago. He's set a Jan. 1 deadline for a com...

Haiti Doesn't Need an Army - Los Angeles Times

President Michel Martelly is expected to announce a plan to reconstitute the military. But the last thing Haiti needs is a $25-million plan to rebuild a failed institution....

Haiti Does Not Need an Army - Tim Padgett, Global Spin

Even in the wake of a catastrophic earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people – or perhaps because of that disaster – nationalism reared its head during Haiti's pr...

Haiti's Old Dictator Must Face Justice - Thompson & Neve, Ottawa Citizen

Frequent delays have cast doubt over whether former Haitian president Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier will pay for his crimes....

How the World Failed Haiti - Janet Reitman, Rolling Stone

In March of last year, two months after the devastating earthquake that killed 300,000 Haitians and left more than a million homeless, Sean Penn was faced with a monumental challen...

Haiti: The Failed State That Keeps Failing - Tim Padgett, Time

About half a million youths are still on the streets as a new school year begins, perpetuating Haiti's poverty cycle....

Haiti's Needless Cholera Deaths - New York Times

Cholera victims are among the many casualties of the unfinished rebuilding of Haiti, still choked by rubble and political paralysis....

Haiti, Stuck in the Mud - Washington Post

No one expected miracles from the new president, a political neophyte whose celebrity as a bawdy carnival singer helped catapult him to the presidency. The keys to his elective s...

Politics Stymies Haiti's Recovery - Miami Herald

President must make good on promise to unite the country....

WikiLeaks Show U.S. Calling Shots in Haiti - Jacqueline Charles, Miami Hld

In the two years following the ouster of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the U.S. played a key role in the interim government....

A Million Dead in 30 Seconds - Claire Berlinski, City Journal

Seismic risk mitigation is the greatest urban policy challenge that the world confronts today. If you consider that too strong a claim, try to imagine another way in which bad urba...

Signs of Political Stalemate in Haiti - Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald

Newly elected President Michel Martelly finds getting approval for his chosen prime minister is difficult, while offending overseas Haitians is easy....

Martelly Faces Myriad Challenges in Haiti - Jacqueline Charles, Miami H'ld

Challenges - and hope - await Michel Martelly as he begins his presidential term....

UN Linked to Haiti's Continuing Cholera Outbreak - New York Times

The fact that the disease is still spreading is a reminder of how much more help Haiti needs and the consequences of continued neglect....

Haiti's Second Revolution - Lesly Michelot, Megacities

A modern-day revolution would create a new dawn in Haiti....

Did Haiti's Ruling Party Manipulate Vote Results? - Tim Padgett, Time

It's just the latest whiff of political chicanery in Haiti, and it will do little to open the purse strings of an international community that doesn't trust the country's venal po...

Haiti's 'Sweet Micky' Turns Presidential - Lee Hockstader, Washington Post

Martelly wants to be taken seriously. And thank goodness....

Let Haitians Build Their Own Future - Tate Watkins, RealClearWorld

More than a year after Haiti’s devastating earthquake, 800,000 Haitians still living in tents pin their hopes on a former singer’s ability to set a course for change. Last we...

How Haiti's Bad Boy Became President - Elizabeth McAlister, Foreign Policy

When Michel Martelly hired the slick Spanish marketing firm Sola to manage his presidential campaign in Haiti last year, the candidate was running third out of three major candidat...

Haiti's Pop Star Prez Goes Conservative - Trenton Daniel, Miami Herald

Martelly, who usually dressed in bright pink short-sleeve shirts on the campaign trail, said his experience as a musician was good preparation for running for office, even if his p...

Hope Amid Obstacles in Haiti - Miami Herald

President-elect Michel Martelly faces huge challenges....

Aristide's Back in Haiti ... Now What? - Michael Putney, Miami Herald

Weather Forecast It was déjà vu all over again. There I was back in Haiti listening to Jean-Bertrand Aristide speaking in his sing-song, deliberate an...

Can an Election Heal Haiti? - Los Angeles Times

No individual can fix the country's deep woes. But Sunday's vote - a runoff for the presidency between a musician and a former first lady is a test and an opportunity....

Haiti and Japan: A Study in Contrasts - Bill Flax, Forbes

The differences between Japan and Haiti are revealing....

Obama Meekly Lets Haiti's Despots Back - DeWayne Wickham, USA Today

While the Obama administration has embraced the democracy movement that is pressuring Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to end to his 30-year rule, it seems less certain of what to ...

Haiti's President Must Allow Free and Fair Vote - NY Daily News

Battered and bleeding Haiti needs its lame-duck President Rene Preval to get out of the way of electing a new head of state who has credibility with the international community....

Why Did 'Baby Doc' Return to Haiti? - Gwynne Dyer, Japan Times

Baby Doc is not just a deluded no-hoper, although he is unlikely ever to be president again....

Post Quake Haiti in Review - Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Last Wednesday marked the first anniversary of the tragic earthquake that ravaged Port-au-Prince, killing upwards of 300,000 Haitians, destroying more than 250,000 homes, and dis...

Haiti's 'Baby Doc' Is Back: But Why? - Pascal Fletcher, Reuters

Some lawyers who track the world's most egregious human rights offenders think there may be more cold calculation than homesickness in his January 16 return to the poor, disaster-...

UN Should Play Bigger Role in Haiti - Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald

Haiti's humanitarian disaster and its escalating political mess have made it clearer than ever that the country's political class needs some kind of adult supervision -- either an ...

Haiti: Year in Review - Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Last Wednesday marked the first anniversary of the tragic earthquake that ravaged Port-au-Prince, killing upwards of 300,000 Haitians, destroying more than 250,000 homes, and displ...

Show No Mercy to 'Baby Doc' - Globe and Mail

Mr. Duvalier's presence is a distraction for a country suffering from a continuing crisis. Yet it is also an opportunity....

Duvalierism Remains Alive in Haiti - Padgett & Desvarieux, Time

Duvalier's reappearance may have been a surprise, it was actually set in motion six years ago, when a conservative coup exiled leftist President Jean-Bertrand Aristide....

Haiti Should Send 'Baby Doc' Packing - Los Angeles Times

The former dictator is the last thing Haiti needs as it tries to select a new leader and win international aid....

Who Will Now Rule Haiti in Ruins? - Amy Wilentz, Los Angeles Times

Here's what's wrong with Haiti right now: A year after an earthquake ripped through the capital and nearby towns like an atomic bomb, killing an estimated 300,000 people, the Hait...

Who Let 'Baby Doc' Duvalier Back in Haiti? - Tim Padgett, Time

In the past 12 months, Haiti — already the western hemisphere's economic basket case — has suffered an epic earthquake that according to latest estimates killed more than 250,0...

Haiti, Going Forward - New York Times

An immense relief effort has saved tens of thousands of lives, but reconstruction is only just beginning....

What Haiti Needs Most: Trees - Andres Oppenheimer, McClatchy

One year after the earthquake that killed an estimated 300,000 people in Haiti, the international community's $3 billion reconstruction pledges are focusing on almost everything e...

About Haiti

  • Republic of Haiti
  • Population: 9,035,536 (88th)
  • Area Size: 10,710 sq mi (147th)
  • GDP: $$11.53 billion (145th)
  • Currency: Gourde (HTG)
  • Official Languages: French, Creole
  • Capital City: Port-au-Prince
  • Largest City: Port-au-Prince