Port-au-Prince is burning. One month after a siege by armed gangs, Haitians continue to flee their country’s capital amid what the United Nations has called a “cataclysmic” situation and state collapse. Meanwhile, food and fuel are in short supply. How can democracy be rebuilt in Haiti? Can the international community help establish security? Should it?
Watch FP Live’s in-depth discussion with Jacqueline Charles, a reporter for the Miami Herald who has covered Haiti for more than a decade, and Jake Johnston, the author of Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti.
Miami Herald reporter Jacqueline Charles describes the “panic” that Haitians feel amid the threat of constant violence and an impending humanitarian crisis.
Researcher and author Jake Johnston on the disparate interests motivating Haiti’s many gangs.
Charles and Johnston explain the composition of Haiti’s imminent presidential transitional council and explore what challenges face this body.
Charles and Johnston explore how to strengthen the capacity of and trust in Haiti’s police force, agreeing that it’s the last line of defense against gang violence today.
Johnston and Charles debate how to solve the crisis in Haiti and restore democracy to the state.
Jacqueline Charles
Caribbean correspondent, Miami Herald
Jacqueline Charles has reported on Haiti and the English-speaking Caribbean for the Miami Herald for more than a decade. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she was awarded a 2018 Maria Moors Cabot Prize, the most prestigious award for coverage of the Americas.
Jake Johnston
Author of Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti
Jake Johnston is a senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), where his research has focused predominantly on economic policy in Latin America, the International Monetary Fund, and U.S. foreign policy. He is the lead author for CEPR’s Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch blog, and his articles and op-eds have been published in outlets such as the New York Times, the Nation, the Intercept, Le Monde Diplomatique, Boston Review, and Al Jazeera. Johnston is the author of Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti.
Host of FP Live
Ravi Agrawal
Editor in chief, Foreign Policy
Ravi Agrawal is the editor in chief of Foreign Policy, the host of FP Live, and a regular world affairs analyst on TV and radio. Before joining FP in 2018, Agrawal worked at CNN for more than a decade in full-time roles spanning three continents, including as the network’s New Delhi bureau chief and correspondent. He is the author of India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy.
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