A call to the incoming United States Congress

Haiti fought for its independence. Its people did not sacrifice generations for a nation that would eventually be governed through foreign-backed arrangements, political intermediaries, and unaccountable power brokers.

Today, Haiti faces a profound institutional crisis. Its elected institutions have been dismantled or left nonfunctional, armed groups exercise control over communities and critical infrastructure, and foreign security arrangements increasingly perform functions that belong to a sovereign Haitian state.

This crisis did not emerge in a vacuum. United Nations investigations have documented relationships between gangs, political figures, and economic elites; the financing and arming of criminal groups; the flow of weapons into Haiti; and the use of violence and forced displacement to expand territorial control. International reports have also raised serious questions about foreign security contractors, public resources, and arrangements involving Haitian customs and national revenue.

Haiti’s people deserve to know who benefited, who financed the violence, who enabled institutional collapse, and who is now making decisions in their name.

We call upon the incoming United States Congress to support a Haitian-led movement for freedom, accountability, and constitutional self-government.

The investigation must follow the history—and the money.
Congressional oversight must not begin and end with Haiti’s present security crisis. It must examine the political decisions, financial networks, foreign interventions, and institutional failures that brought Haiti to this point.

The investigation should include:

• The Martelly–Lamothe years: The PetroCaribe funds, allegations of gang financing and political sponsorship, the 2010–2011 electoral process, mining permits, and the political and business relationships surrounding these decisions.
• The Moïse–Ariel Henry period: The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, the political and security networks that survived it, the role of international actors, and the transition away from elected government.
• The current governing and security arrangements: The CARICOM-facilitated transition, Vectus Global and Erik Prince, the reported ten-year customs agreement, the deployment of Salvadoran forces, the UN security mandate, and the absence of elected parliamentary oversight.
• The money trail: Foreign aid, reconstruction contracts, mining interests, ports, customs revenue, private security arrangements, public procurement, and financial networks—including offshore holdings where evidence warrants investigation.

No period, institution, political family, foreign government, contractor, or business interest should be exempt from scrutiny. Follow the contracts. Follow the money. Identify who made the decisions, who benefited, and who must be held accountable.:

OUR DEMANDS:

1. Support a genuinely Haitian-led transition.

End support for transitional arrangements that lack a direct democratic mandate or sufficient accountability to the Haitian people. Review the authority, legitimacy, composition, and performance of the CARICOM-facilitated transitional structures and foreign-backed security arrangements. Support their replacement with a transparent, Haitian-led process accountable to the Haitian public.

2. Establish an independent investigation and make the findings public.

Congress should use its oversight authority to investigate the role of U.S. policy, foreign governments, political actors, business interests, financial networks, weapons suppliers, and other intermediaries in Haiti’s political and security crisis. Investigate documented allegations of gang financing, corruption, illicit arms trafficking, misuse of public funds, and foreign contracts involving Haitian security and national revenue.

Release findings to the public, subject only to legitimate protections for witnesses and ongoing investigations.

3. Pursue accountability through the rule of law.

Support independent investigations and prosecution, where evidence warrants, of individuals and networks responsible for financing violence, corruption, looting public resources, trafficking weapons, and undermining Haiti’s institutions. No political family, business dynasty, public official, foreign contractor, or intermediary should be beyond scrutiny. Accountability must be evidence-based, impartial, and consistent with due process.

4. Guarantee free, credible, and Haitian-chosen elections.

Support an independent, credible Haitian electoral authority and impartial election oversight. The next electoral process must be protected from gang intimidation, foreign interference, political coercion, vote manipulation, and financial corruption.

Require transparent, lawful vetting of candidates, including meaningful disclosure and investigation of credible evidence of corruption, criminal conduct, and involvement in political violence. Those found legally ineligible must not be allowed to use another election to regain power and repeat the abuses of the past.

The Haitian people—not foreign governments, private interests, or political families—must decide who governs Haiti.

5. Protect Haiti’s resources, land, and national revenue.

Demand full public disclosure and independent review of foreign security contracts, customs agreements, mining concessions, land transfers, natural-resource arrangements, and other agreements involving Haiti’s public assets. Haitian people must know who signed these agreements, under what authority, who benefits financially, and whether the agreements comply with Haitian law and constitutional requirements.

6. Help Haiti rebuild the capacity to govern itself.

Support accountable Haitian institutions: an independent judiciary, a professional and properly equipped Haitian police service, a capable national defense structure, functioning public administration, transparent customs and tax systems, and institutions that serve the public rather than private interests.

International assistance must strengthen Haitian institutions—not permanently replace them.

 

WHAT WE ARE ASKING OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

The United States has played a consequential role in Haiti’s modern political history. That history makes congressional oversight and transparency essential.

We are not asking America to own Haiti’s future. We are asking the United States to respect Haiti’s independence, examine its own role honestly, stop enabling unaccountable arrangements, and support the Haitian people’s right to determine their own future.

We ask the incoming Congress to make Haiti’s sovereignty, democratic restoration, and accountability a matter of serious legislative oversight.

Haiti is not a project to be managed. Haiti is a nation with a people entitled to freedom, dignity, and self-determination.

Let the truth be made public. Let those responsible answer for their actions. Let Haiti rebuild its institutions. Let Haitians choose their leaders.

We want a free and unchained Haiti.

A Haiti that belongs to its people. A Haiti that can govern itself. A Haiti that is finally free.