Haiti has been in the news again this week, and not in a good way. Criminal gangs fired on US Marines guarding the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince. Although the Marines did not report injuries, it is an indicator of the gangs’ perception of impunity.
Quixote Center engages on multiple fronts to impact US policies on interrelated issues that affect the Latin American and Caribbean region.
Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act
Quixote Center continues to provide cash assistance to displaced families resettling in Gros Morne, Haiti. Gang violence has forced 1.4 million people in Haiti to internally displace, about 11% of the population of the country and the highest percentage of displaced persons by population in the world. Some have ended up in Gros Morne.
With so much sad news surrounding Haiti, we are happy to share some positive reports from our work in the South. With Quixote Center’s support, our partners with the Haitian Christian Community Development (DCCH), part of the Caritas network, launched the Socioeconomic Recovery of the populations of 3rd municipal section of Les Cayes in January 2025 reaching 100 farming families.
On September 4th, 2025, Amnesty International convened, and Quixote Center co-sponsored, an academic conference to bring together experts and advocates from Haiti and the US and explore solutions to the multiple crises Haiti faces today.
Opening remarks from Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick emphasized the importance of Haitian-led solutions and recognized global responsibility for the trafficking of guns and drugs flooding Haiti.
Quixote Center partners in Gros Morne, Haiti, are dependent on mango exports for their main source of cash. Haitian producers grow the Fransik variety small, yellow, juicy and sweet. In 2022 Haiti exported 28 million mangoes to the United States, their main customer.
Haiti is desperate. According to the UN special envoy to Haiti, criminal gangs control 80% of the capital and are moving further and further into other parts of the country, leaving many people trapped in their homes with little means to feed their families, or forced to flee their homes with nothing. Scarcity of gasoline and water, and high prices of essential products are transforming an already distressed State into ashes.
Haiti’s capital has shut down. With gangs in control, the airport is closed, roads are blocked and the de facto prime minster is stuck in Puerto Rico.
Haiti’s acting Foreign Minister, Jean Geneus, and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, met with the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, last week to discuss the crisis in Haiti.
On Sunday, October 2, acting health officials announced that 8 people had died of cholera in the community of Dekayet in southern Port-au-Prince and in Cite Soleil. These are the first cholera cases in three years. Prior to 2010 Haiti had no recorded cholera cases.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing titled, Haiti at the Crossroads: Civil Society Responses for a Haitian-led Solution on Thursday, September 29. The speakers from Haiti were Vélina Élysée Charlier of Noupapdòmi, Mary Rosy Auguste Ducena from the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH), and Alermy Piervilus, director of the Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH). Former US ambassador to Haiti, Pamela White also testified.
