The situation in Haiti right now is heartbreaking. In the majority of the coverage I’ve read, these groups that have effectively taken over the country are described as “gangs.”
With something as widespread and seemingly organized as this, I would think these groups would be described differently. Any idea why?
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Look at it this way –
No stable government, no infrastructure, no banking system, no food production, probably no utilities. Power is based on force and armament.
If they categorize them as gangs changes the way the US is involved.
For example, in 2009 there was a coup in Honduras, but the US secretary of state called it a regime change to not be involved. As a result, thousands fled Honduras in those migrant caravans you probably heard about on the news.
The coverage you’ve read – who’s writing it?
Power has always come from a monopoly on violence. In almost all countries, the government has the guns and the civilians don’t. This monopoly on violence is how governments maintain control. They have an army, you don’t. Game over.
But every society has criminals. Thankfully, most criminals don’t challenge the government. They hide from it. Unless they grow rich and powerful enough to believe they can get away with it. We have seen this in places like Colombia, Mexico, and now Haiti.
I have no idea how strong Haitian gangs are but the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico has a reported 100,000 soldiers according to most sources. That’s a lot of armed criminals. And thanks to drug profits, they’re better paid and better armed than government troops. The Mexican government has practically given up fighting them.
But Mexican cartels would never dare march on Mexico City and try to overthrow the president because they know that would lead to instant American intervention.
Haitian gangs, however, don’t have that deterrent since they don’t share a border with the US. So, once they got powerful enough, they figured they could just get rid of the government altogether and set themselves up as the new government. What’s terrifying is that they are actually succeeding.
This is just my opinion but it could also be due to whats driving them. Groups like Boko Haram , ISIS use religion as their guiding premise. The fighting in Myanmmar consists of a population rebelling against what they see as a govt they didn’t ask for. Hamas and the Houthi’s , well I don’t have to explain those.
However the groups in Haiti have no such lofty ideals or goals. They were criminal gangs that are taking advantage of the chaos to grab control. Their driver is pure power and profit. Since it’s not Mexico/Latin America etc , and they’re not as organised , they’re not “Cartels” .
If the government fails, breaks down to a so called failed state,
the **natural laws** take over, and that is survival of the fittest.
So groups empower them self by violence and take control over resources needed.
Zivilisation is only a very thin layer if it breaks the wild beast is out.
This youtuber, Indigo Traveller, made a couple of videos about life in Haiti last year. It’s insane.
[Haiti](https://youtu.be/Glx7AmJW_FY?si=BVZc5APE3cmoQ-ba)
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