Overview:
In this op-ed, economist Patrick Alexis calls for a moral, civic and political rupture with Haiti’s post-1986 order. He argues that the country’s prolonged crisis stems not from cultural failure or inevitability, but from decades of elite irresponsibility, institutional decay and unaccountable power. Forty years after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship, Alexis urges Haitians to move beyond symbolism and demand truth, responsibility and renewal.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — The dictatorship fell, but it was replaced by hypocrisy, plunder and irresponsibility. The state never recovered.
Freedom was won, but it was never organized—harnessed for enduring, positive change.
For 40 years, visionless elites have seized control of the state, emptied democracy of its substance and abandoned the population to misery and violence. When they failed, they fled — hiding behind empty rhetoric while the country collapsed.
For four decades, these same elites have confiscated hope, hijacked democratic institutions and transformed the state into a prize to be fought over. The result is plain to see: fragile institutions, normalized violence, a sacrificed youth and a people left behind.
Gangs are the outcome of betrayal
The gangs wreaking havoc in Haiti currently are the symptom — the product of neglect, impunity and political cowardice. Armed groups are not an accident of history or a cultural flaw. They are the outcome of a country betrayed by those who were supposed to build it.
Yet, Haiti endures — through its culture, its memory and the survival strengths of its people.
The Haitian people are neither incapable nor cursed. They have not failed. They have been failed.
Forty years after Feb. 7, 1986, we are not a moment for celebration, but for truth.
Without moral and civic renewal, no symbolic date will save us. Without accountability, no election, agreement or transition will restore confidence in the state.
Haiti deserves leaders worthy of its people.
Forty years on, it is time to name those responsible, to break the silence and to refuse the normalization of chaos.
Enough of symbolic anniversaries.
Haiti is crying out for a break with the past — now.
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