How Biden Is Failing Haiti and America
Late and incongruent decision-making has caused the President to fumble the country’s Haiti relief and border crisis (again)
At the top of the summer, Haiti appeared to have an ally in the United States. The distressed country has been corroded by political and financial corruption that has fostered extreme poverty and subsequent spikes in violent underworld activities — plights that were only intensified by the coronavirus pandemic. This was the case before Haiti’s cruel summer began. On July 6, Haiti President Jovenal Moise was assassinated in his home, causing more disarray throughout the once-rich and now-depleted nation. Then President Biden stepped up. At least, that was the perception.
On July 22, Biden appointed Ambassador Daniel Foote as the United States’ Special Convoy to Haiti. The role of Foote — a career member of the Senior Foreign Service — was to engage with Haitian and international leaders in an effort to return democracy to Haiti’s political elections and provide the impoverished country with global aid. On September 23, Foote resigned from the position, citing the United States’ “inhumane” handling of the recent influx of Haitian refugees on America’s Texan border.
