The crisis in Haiti has worsened in 2021. The government assures that its mandate ends in February 2022, but the opposition says it should have ended in February 2021.
Tensions rose so much that, at the end of March, protests turned into violent confrontations with law enforcement. The opposition accuses the current president, Jovenel Moïse, of trying to extend his rule, but the president denies this. In fact, he wants to organize a referendum in June to change the constitution of 1986. He says that document is what has allowed a sector of the country, which uses insecurity as a pretext to boot out presidents, to take advantage of a weakened government.
In just the first three months of 2021, at least 142 people have been kidnapped in Haiti according to the NGO Center of Analysis and Investigation in Human Rights.
The growing tension in the country has also caught the pope's attention. In his Easter speech, one of the most important of the year, he saved some of his most heartfelt words for Haiti.
Javier Romero
