Over the past several weeks, months, and years, Haiti has experienced crisis after crisis, which has lead the country down a path of misery. Conflict came to a head in the past several weeks as the unelected Prime Minister's mandate expired with no movement towards sorely needed national elections (which have not taken place since 2016). Chaos reigns supreme in this island nation, with gangs ransacking government buildings, breaking prisoners out of jail, and preventing the return of Prime Minister Henry from a trip abroad to secure support for an international peace keeping force.

As the crises continued piling up, the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire reached out to Sophie Rutenbar of the Brookings Institution, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the NYU Center on International Cooperation to gain insights into the history of Haiti and how it got to be in such a mess. Of course, it is important to note that the long standing issues facing Haiti since European contact, have directly led to today's situation, so it is important that we understand the roots of this challenge. While there are no easy answers to this ongoing crisis, there is a strong need for the international community to do something. This is not a call to do nothing, but rather a call to do better than the past.

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