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This article discussed some common true and false statements/facts regarding the current situation in Haiti.

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AP'S ASSESSMENT: False. While the U.S. and Mexico said Monday that they are preparing a U.N. resolution that would authorize an international mission to help improve security in Haiti, no such deployment has happened. The U.S. and Canada have sent and other supplies to aid the Haitian police. armored vehicles

THE FACTS: Haiti has been gripped by rising food and fuel prices, issues that have been exacerbated by political instability and protests , with many calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. On Oct. 7, Henry and the Haitian Council of Ministers requested assistance from the U.N. to help restore security and alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

Social media users have claimed the U.S. is actively invading Haiti.

"The US is invading Haiti. It's not in the news. At all," reads one post on Twitter that was shared more than 13,000 times.

Another Twitter post with more than 11,000 likes reads, "Everyone else is just going to ignore that the US is invading Haiti huh?"

But the U.S. has not deployed troops to Haiti. The U.N. resolution proposed by the U.S. and Mexico that would authorize the mission is still being worked on, and has not yet passed.

"I strongly don't believe that there is any kind of invasion taking place by the United States," said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "In fact, the United States has not been keen on sending U.S. troops to Haiti at all."

Reached for comment Thursday, the U.S. Department of State referred the AP to comments made by spokesperson Vedant Patel at a Tuesday briefing. Patel said at the briefing that the U.S. hopes the U.N. Security Council will unanimously support the resolutions and that he had no "timeline to offer." He added that the mission would "improve the security situation and enable the flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid."

Two resolutions concerning Haiti are being considered by the U.N. The first would enact sanctions against the influential gang leader Jimmy Chérizier, nicknamed "Barbecue." The second, which is still being worked on, would authorize a "non-U.N." mission that would be led by "a partner country," according to U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who made the announcement on Monday at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. The mission would have a mandate to use military force if necessary.

"This would be a limited, carefully scoped, non-UN mission led by a partner country with the deep and necessary experience required, with whom the U.S. could find ways to support," Patel said.

Daily life in Haiti began to spin out of control in September just hours after the prime minister said fuel subsidies would be eliminated, causing prices to double, the AP reported . Gangs blocked the entrance to the Varreux fuel terminal, leading to a severe shortage of fuel at a time when rising prices have put food and fuel out of reach of many Haitians, clean water is scarce, and the country is trying to deal with a cholera outbreak. And political instability in Haiti has simmered since last year's still-unsolved assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse.

The Security Council vote on the resolution authorizing sanctions against Chérizier was called for Wednesday afternoon but has been postponed for a few days, the AP reported.

A spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the U.N. referred the AP to Thomas-Greenfield's comments on Monday.

Since the early 1900s, there have been at least three major foreign military interventions in Haiti led by the U.S. and the U.N. The U.N.'s 2004-2017 peacekeeping mission was marred by allegations of sexual assault by its troops and staffers and the fact that peacekeepers from Nepal were blamed for introducing cholera into Haiti's largest river in October 2010 by sewage runoff from their base, the AP reported.

Characterizing this newest potential intervention as an invasion is an "oversimplification," said Robert Fatton, a professor specializing in Haitian politics at the University of Virginia. However, he added that the "vast majority of Haitians kind of have a love-hate relationship with the United States and they don't want an intervention."

"It's very complicated because previous interventions have really failed to change the situation in Haiti," Fatton said.

Opponents claim Henry hopes to use foreign troops to keep himself in power - a leadership he assumed last year after Moïse's killing and that many consider illegitimate because he was never elected or formally confirmed in the post by the legislature.

"We've had consistent protests," said Chantalle F. Verna, an associate professor of history and international relations at Florida International University. "There's been clear pushback and reference to the standing government as an illegitimate government."

This is part of AP's effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.

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Posts misrepresent U.S. response to instability in Haiti

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AP'S ASSESSMENT: False. While the U.S. and Mexico said Monday that they are preparing a U.N. resolution that would authorize an international mission to help improve security in Haiti, no such deployment has happened. The U.S. and Canada have sent and other supplies to aid the Haitian police.

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Instagram post regarding possible persons responsible for the planning and killing of Haitian president back in 2021.

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Haitian Times Instagram post about an upcoming Caribbean community and Common Market meeting.

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A post shared by Haitian - Haiti News (@haitiantimes)

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This article gives an in-depth look into the current or semi-current decline of the country of 'Haiti. The largest problem is the fact that there is no real sitting government, and the majority of the country's daily operations are now being run by gangs. This article gives a great look into the current state of those in the local New London are. Additionally, the ability of this local news source to report on this issue shows their commitment to keeping their community informed on more than just local issues.

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Port-au-Prince, Haiti (AP) - Daily life in Haiti began to spin out of control last month just hours after Prime Minister Ariel Henry said fuel subsidies would be eliminated, causing prices to double.

Gunshots rang out as protesters blocked roads with iron gates and mango trees. Then Haiti's most powerful gang took a drastic step: It dug trenches to block access to the Caribbean country's largest fuel terminal, vowing not to budge until Henry resigns and prices for fuel and basic goods go down.

The poorest country in the Western hemisphere is in the grips of an inflationary vise that is squeezing its citizenry and exacerbating protests that have brought society to the breaking point. Violence is raging and making parents afraid to send their kids to school; fuel and clean water are scarce; hospitals, banks and grocery stores are struggling to stay open.

The president of neighboring Dominican Republic described the situation as a "low-intensity civil war."

Life in Haiti is always extremely difficult, if not downright dysfunctional. But the magnitude of the current paralysis and despair is unprecedented. Political instability has simmered ever since last year's still-unsolved assassination of Haiti's president; inflation soaring around 30% has only aggravated the situation.

"If they don't understand us, we're going to make them understand," said Pierre Killick Cemelus, who sweated as he struggled to keep pace with thousands of other protesters marching during a recent demonstration.

The fuel depot blocked by gangs has been inoperable since Sept. 12, cutting off about 10 million gallons of diesel and gasoline and more than 800,000 gallons of kerosene stored on site. Many gas stations are closed, and others are quickly running out of supplies.

The lack of fuel recently forced hospitals to cut back critical services and prompted water delivery companies to shut down. Banks and grocery stores also are struggling to stay open because of dwindling fuel supplies - and exorbitant prices - that make it nearly impossible for many workers to commute.

A gallon of gasoline costs $30 on the black market in Port-au-Prince and more than $40 in rural areas, Desperate people are walking for miles to get food and water because public transportation is extremely limited.

"Haiti is now in complete chaos," said Alex Dupuy, a Haiti-born sociologist at Wesleyan University. "You have gangs basically doing whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want with complete impunity because the police force is not capable of bringing them under control."

Henry's de-facto government "doesn't seem to be fazed at all by the chaos and is probably benefiting from it because it allows him to hold on to power and prolong as long as possible the organization of new elections," Dupuy said.

Gangs have long wielded considerable power in Haiti, and their influence has only grown since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Gangs control roughly 40% of Port-au-Prince, the U.N. has estimated. They are fighting to control even more territory, killing hundreds of Haitians in recent months - including women and children - and driving away some 20,000 people from their homes. Kidnappings have spiked.

Henry has pledged to hold elections as soon as it's safe to do so, writing in a speech read at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24 that he has "no desire to stay in power longer than necessary."

"My country is going through a multidimensional crisis whose consequences threaten democracy and the very foundations of the rule of law," Henry said. He condemned widespread looting and violence, and said those responsible "will have to answer for their crimes before history and before the courts."

U.S. President Joe Biden, also speaking at the U.N., said Haiti faces "political-fueled gang violence and an enormous human crisis."

From 2004 until 2017, U.N. peacekeepers bolstered the country's security and helped rebuild political institutions after a violent rebellion ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. But for now, any foreign intervention in Haiti is off the table.

Local political leaders have repudiated the suggestion of outside help, noting that U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti sexually abused children and sparked a cholera epidemic more than a decade ago that killed nearly 10,000 people.

The first round of protests in mid-September prompted France and Spain to close their embassies and banks to shut down in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Protesters attacked businesses, the homes of well-known politicians and even warehouses of the United Nations' World Food Program, stealing millions of dollars' worth of food and water.

Protests have since grown bigger. Tens of thousands of people recently marched in Port-au-Prince and beyond, including the cities of Gonaives and Cap-Haitien in the north. They waved leafy green branches and chanted, "Ariel has to go!"

Primary school teacher Jean-Wilson Fabre joined a recent protest as he ducked into a side street to avoid a cloud of tear gas thrown by police trying to control the crowd.

"He's not doing anything," he said of the prime minister.

The 40-year-old father of two sons lamented the lack of food and water, the rise of kidnappings and the growing power of gangs: "No one is crazy enough to send their kids to school in this situation. They will not be safe."

Fabre is one of millions of parents who refused to send their children to school even though the government announced an Oct. 3 return to class as scheduled in an attempt to restore some normalcy amid an increasingly unstable situation.

Haiti's courts also were slated to reopen on Oct. 3, but the country's Bar Federation rejected an invitation from the prime minister to talk about the issue days before, noting that gangs still occupy a main courthouse in Port-au-Prince, among other problems.

"Under Ariel, things have gotten worse and worse," said Merlay Saint-Pierre, a 28-year-old unemployed mother of two boys who joined a recent protest wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a middle finger.

Hundreds of people have spent hours in line each day just to buy buckets of water. Delivery trucks cannot go into neighborhoods because of roadblocks.

"I'm scared of this water," said 22-year-old Lionel Simon, noting he would use it to wash clothes and add chlorine before drinking it.

At least eight people have died of cholera in recent days and dozens more have been treated, according to local health officials who urged protesters and gang leaders to allow fuel and water to flow into neighborhoods.

But Simon was not worried about cholera. His biggest concerns are gangs and an increase in young children carrying guns.

"We don't know if life will go back to normal," he said. "If you die today, you don't even know if you're going to make it to a morgue. You could be left in the street for dogs and animals to eat you. This is how crazy the city has become."

Dupuy, the Haitian expert, said it's unlikely Henry would step down since there is no international pressure for him to do so. He worried there is no clear solution as the situation spirals: "How much more boiling point can there be?"

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Haiti at breaking point as economy tanks and violence soars

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Port-au-Prince, Haiti (AP) - Daily life in Haiti began to spin out of control last month just hours after Prime Minister Ariel Henry said fuel subsidies would be eliminated, causing prices to double. Gunshots rang out as protesters blocked roads with iron gates and mango trees.

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This article was written with help from another country as well as a local reporter. This local news source reports on international matters. This is important because the Day is enabling all those in the New London and Groton areas to remain up to date on not just U.S. and local news but international news as well. Additionally, this article is breaking news about the Haitian government allowing international aid to try and eliminate the problems caused by gang violence in the city's capital.

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This article appears to be right-leaning but for the most part fairly neutral. there is much talk in this article about the need for some US involvement following the assassination of the Haitian president.

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An already struggling and chaotic Haiti stumbled into an uncertain future Thursday after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, followed by a gunfight in which authorities said police killed seven suspects, detained six others and freed three officers being held hostage.

Officials pledged to find all those responsible for the pre-dawn raid on Moïse's home early Wednesday in which the president was shot to death and his wife, Martine, critically wounded. She was flown to Miami for treatment.

"The pursuit of the mercenaries continues," Léon Charles, director of Haiti's National Police, said Wednesday night in announcing the arrest of suspects. "Their fate is fixed: They will fall in the fighting or will be arrested."

On Thursday, Charles told reporters that six suspects had been arrested and seven killed and that police were still looking for more.

Witnesses said two of the suspects were discovered hiding in bushes in Port-au-Prince on Thursday by a crowd, some of whom grabbed the men by their shirts and pants, pushing them and occasionally slapping them.

Police arrived shortly afterward to arrest the men, who were sweating heavily and wearing clothes that seemed to be smeared with mud, an Associated Press journalist at the scene said. Officers placed them in the back of a pickup truck and drove away as the crowd ran after them to the nearby police station.
HAITIAN PRESIDENT JOVENEL MOÏSE ASSASSINATED AT HOME, OFFICIAL SAYS
Once there, some in the crowd chanted: "They killed the president! Give them to us. We're going to burn them!"

One man was overheard saying that it was unacceptable for foreigners to come to Haiti to kill the country's leader, referring to reports from officials that the perpetrators spoke Spanish or English.

The crowd later set fire to several abandoned cars riddled with bullet holes that they believed belonged to the suspects, who were white men. The cars didn't have license plates, and inside one of them was an empty box of bullets and some water.
HAITI PRESIDENT JOVENEL MOÏSE'S ASSASSINATION PARTIALLY CAUGHT ON VIDEO
At a news conference Thursday, Charles, the police chief, asked people to stay calm, go home and let police do their work as he warned that authorities needed evidence they were destroying, including the burned cars.

Officials did not provide any details about the suspects, including their nationalities, nor did they address a motive or say what led police to them. They said only that the attack condemned by Haiti's main opposition parties and the international community was carried out by "a highly trained and heavily armed group."

Prime Minister Claude Joseph assumed leadership of Haiti with the backing of police and the military and on Thursday asked people to reopen businesses and go back to work as he ordered the reopening of the international airport.
HAITI'S PRESIDENT ASSASSINATED BY 'PROFESSIONAL' COMMANDOS, 4 KILLED, 2 ARRESTED, REPORT SAYS
On Wednesday, Joseph decreed a two-week state of siege following Moïse's killing, which stunned a nation grappling with some of the Western Hemisphere's highest poverty, violence and political instability.

Inflation and gang violence have spiraled upward as food and fuel grew scarcer in a country where 60% of Haitians earn less than $2 a day. The increasingly dire situation comes as Haiti is still trying to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016 following a history of dictatorship and political upheaval.

"There is this void now, and they are scared about what will happen to their loved ones," said Marlene Bastien, executive director of Family Action Network Movement, a group that helps people in Miami's Little Haiti community.

She said it was important for the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to take a much more active role in supporting attempts at national dialogue in Haiti with the aim of holding free, fair and credible elections.

Bastien said she also wants to see participation of the extensive Haitian diaspora: "No more band-aids. The Haitian people have been crying and suffering for too long."

Haiti had grown increasingly unstable under Moïse, who had been ruling by decree for more than a year and faced violent protests as critics accused him of trying to amass more power while the opposition demanded he step down.
HAITI PLANE CRASH KILLS 2 AMERICAN MISSIONARIES, 4 OTHERS ON BOARD: REPORTS
According to Haiti's constitution, Moïse should be replaced by the president of Haiti's Supreme Court, but the chief justice died in recent days from COVID-19, leaving open the question of who might rightfully succeed to the office.

Joseph, meanwhile, was supposed to be replaced by Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who had been named prime minister by Moïse a day before the assassination.

Henry told the AP in a brief interview that he is the prime minister, calling it an exceptional and confusing situation. In another interview with Radio Zenith, he said he had no dispute with Joseph. "I only disagree with the fact that people have taken hasty decisions ... when the moment demands a little more serenity and maturity," he said.
COLOMBIA PROTESTS SEE AT LEAST 24 DEAD AFTER 1 WEEK
Moïse had faced large protests in recent months that turned violent as opposition leaders and their supporters rejected his plans to hold a constitutional referendum with proposals that would strengthen the presidency.

On Thursday, public transportation and street vendors remained scarce, an unusual sight for the normally bustling streets of Port-au-Prince.

Marco Destin, 39, was walking to see his family since no buses, known as tap-taps, were available. He was carrying a loaf of bread for them because they had not left their house since the president's killing out of fear for their lives.

"Every one at home is sleeping with one eye open and one eye closed," he said. "If the head of state is not protected, I don't have any protection whatsoever."

Destin said Haiti has always been a complicated country and that he wasn't sure what the upcoming days would bring. "Haiti doesn't know what direction it's heading in right now," he said. "To be honest, I don't know what the solution is. There's always been a fight for power."

Gunfire rang out intermittently across the city hours after the killing, a grim reminder of the growing power of gangs that displaced more than 14,700 people last month alone as they torched and ransacked homes in a fight over territory.

Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, said gangs were a force to contend with and it isn't certain Haiti's security forces can enforce a state of siege.

"It's a really explosive situation," he said, adding that foreign intervention with a U.N.-type military presence is a possibility. "Whether Claude Joseph manages to stay in power is a huge question. It will be very difficult to do so if he doesn't create a government of national unity."

Joseph told the AP that he supports an international investigation into the assassination and believes elections scheduled for later this year should be held, as he promised to work with Moïse's allies and opponents alike.

"Everything is under control," he said.

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Haiti's future uncertain after brazen slaying of president

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An already struggling and chaotic Haiti stumbled into an uncertain future Thursday after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, followed by a gunfight in which authorities said police killed seven suspects, detained six others and freed three officers being held hostage.

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the article appears to be left-leaning and focused on the US is to blame for not allowing more immigrants and refugees into the country. Additionally, this article is written by a Haitian American and who feels Hati has been wronged by the US for a long time.

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opinion: this is the story of haiti that matters most   - cnn

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Opinion: This is the story of Haiti that matters most

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Peniel Joseph, writing as a historian and a Haitian-American, unpacks the conflicting narratives and compounding crises of Haiti in the wake of a deadly earthquake, flooding and recent assassination of the country's president. Joseph says natural disasters and political crises shouldn't be the only stories about Haiti that hold our attention.

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The Jamaican Observer is one of the largest national news sources in Jamaica. It was originally founded by Desmond Allen but currently, I am unsure who is the owner. There is not much information regarding the news source on the web or their own site. This source for the most part seems neutral but leans more towards a liberal/democratic viewpoint.

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Haiti's history has long been tragic. It's been the poorest country in the hemisphere and has been plagued by political turmoil since, while suffering waves of devastating earthquakes, hurricanes and cholera outbreaks. Now, gangs take control as the nation's democracy crumbles.

Jimmy Cherizier zips through Haiti's capital on the back of a motorcycle, flanked by young men wielding black and leopard print masks and automatic weapons.

As the pack of bikes flies by graffiti reading "Mafia boss" in Creole, street vendors selling vegetables, meats and old clothes on the curb cast their eyes to the ground or peer curiously.

Cherizier, best known by his childhood nickname Barbecue, has become the most recognised name in Haiti.

And here in his territory, enveloped by the tin-roofed homes and bustling streets of the informal settlement La Saline, he is the law.

Internationally, he's known as Haiti's most powerful and feared gang leader, sanctioned by the United Nations for "serious human rights abuses," and the man behind a fuel blockade that brought the Caribbean nation to its knees late last year.

But if you ask the former police officer with gun tattoos running up his arm, he's a "revolutionary," advocating against a corrupt government that has left a nation of 12 million people in the dust.

"I'm not a thief. I'm not involved in kidnapping. I'm not a rapist. I'm just carrying out a social fight," Cherizier, leader of "G9 Family and Allies," told

The Associated Press while sitting in a chair in the middle of an empty road in the shadow of a home with windows shattered by bullets. "I'm a threat to the system."

At a time when democracy has withered in Haiti and gang violence has spiraled out of control, it's armed men like Cherizier that are filling the power vacuum left by a crumbling government. In December, the UN estimated that gangs controlled 60 per cent of Haiti's capital, but nowadays most on the streets of Port-au-Prince say that number is closer to 100 per cent.

"There is, democratically speaking, little-to-no legitimacy" for Haiti's government, said Jeremy McDermott, a head of InSight Crime, a research centres focused on organised crime. "This gives the gangs a stronger political voice and more justification to their claims to be the true representatives of the communities."

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In Haiti, gangs take control as democracy withers - Jamaica Observer

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Haiti's history has long been tragic. It's been the poorest country in the hemisphere and has been plagued by political turmoil since, while suffering waves of devastating earthquakes, hurricanes and cholera outbreaks. Now, gangs take control as the nation's democracy crumbles.

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Haitian Political Instability and the Future

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Haitian Political Instability and the Future

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Following the killing of Hati's president, the country has had increased gang violence, a cholera outbreak, and an increase in international pressure. The international pressure to resurrect the government and grant aid has caused many groups to protest and cause even more instability within the nation's capital. As a byproduct of the instability and lack of government, the country is being led by gangs and now many native Haitians are migrating and causing pressure on other countries.

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People displaced by gang violence in the Port-au-Prince neighbourhood of Cite Soleil take refuge at the Hugo Chavez Square in the Haitian capital, on October 16, 2022 [File: Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters]

For Haiti, 2022 began much like the previous year ended - in the grips of widespread violence and political instability.

And over the past 12 months, the situation has largely failed to improve: Haitians have faced a surge in gang attacks and kidnappings, fuel and electricity shortages, a deepening political deadlock and a deadly outbreak of cholera.

"We don't know what will happen tomorrow," said Judes Jonathas, senior programme manager at the Mercy Corps humanitarian group. Jonathas spoke to Al Jazeera in October, as gang violence gripped the streets of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince where he resides.

"It's as if we're living minute to minute. We go out, [and] we don't know if we'll be coming back," he said.

As the nation continues to reel from several, overlapping crises, Al Jazeera looks at how the past year in Haiti has unfolded - and what 2023 may have in store.

Increased gang violence

Gang violence is not a new problem in the Caribbean nation, but it has been on the rise, particularly after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise worsened months of political instability and created a power vacuum.

Haiti's de facto leader, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whom Moise chose for the post just days before he was killed, has faced a crisis of legitimacy, with some Haitian civil society groups urging him to hand power over to an inclusive, transitional government - a demand he has rejected.

Armed gang leaders also have used pressure tactics - including fuel terminal blockades - in an effort to force Henry to resign.

After months of mounting violence, one of the most powerful armed groups - the G9 gang alliance, led by former police officer Jimmy "BBQ" Cherizier - in September imposed another fuel blockade on the main petrol terminal in Port-au-Prince, known as the Varreux Terminal.

The move came after Henry's government announced plans to end petrol subsidies, setting off public protests among Haitians already struggling with rising living costs.

The weeks-long blockade led to water and electricity shortages across Port-au-Prince, including at hospitals trying to treat cholera patients. Each crisis compounded the other, and a United Nations official said Haiti was staring down a "cholera time bomb" as the instability and violence cut off entire neighbourhoods.

The Haitian authorities regained control of the Varreux Terminal in November, allowing petrol stations to reopen and prompting celebrations in the streets - a rare bright spot amid simmering concerns over the power armed groups wield in the country.

International pressure

As gang violence reached crisis levels in Port-au-Prince in October, Henry - the Haitian prime minister - appealed for an international armed force to be deployed to Haiti to restore order and secure a humanitarian corridor to allow fuel and water deliveries in the capital.

The demand enjoyed the backing of the United Nations, as well as the United States, but set off fresh protests, with many Haitians, including civil society leaders, rejecting the prospect of foreign intervention.

Washington-led efforts to mount "a non-UN mission led by a partner country" to Haiti have stalled since then, as President Joe Biden's administration so far has failed to get another nation to agree to lead such a force, US media outlets reported.

Instead, the US and its allies, notably Canada, have imposed a series of sanctions against Haitian politicians and others over their alleged support for gangs and other destabilising activities, such as drug trafficking and government corruption.

"Impose sanctions on high-profile individuals involved in corruption and who support and facilitate gang violence in Haiti [and] adopt drastic measures to stop the illicit trafficking of weapons from the US to Haiti," Velina Elysee Charlier, an activist with anti-corruption group Nou Pap Domi, told the US House Foreign Affairs Committee during a hearing in late September.

Cholera vaccination campaign

Meanwhile, Haitian health officials continue to grapple with the outbreak of cholera.

Caused by drinking water or eating foods contaminated with cholera bacteria, the illness can trigger severe diarrhoea, as well as vomiting, thirst and other symptoms, and can spread rapidly in areas without adequate sewage treatment or clean drinking water.

The first infections in Haiti in more than three years were reported in early October, after a previous outbreak subsided in 2019. More than 17,600 suspected cases have since been detected, according to the latest figures from the country's public health department ( PDF).

A cholera vaccination campaign began on December 19 in some of the most affected areas, after Haiti received the first shipment of more than 1.1 million vaccine doses.

"The arrival of oral vaccines in Haiti is a step in the right direction," Laure Adrien, director general of Haiti's Public Health and Population Ministry said on December 12, adding that another 500,000 vaccines were expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

Migration

Over the past year, rising numbers of Haitians have left the country, seeking asylum and opportunity elsewhere in Latin America and the United States.

Thousands have made long journeys on foot, including across a perilous jungle passage between Colombia and Panama known as the Darien Gap, after finding employment and visa opportunities scarce in countries like Chile and Brazil. Others have taken boats in hopes of reaching the coast of Florida.

Haitians have been among the many migrants and refugees turned away by US authorities at the country's southern border with Mexico in the past year. But in early December, the Biden administration announced that it was extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by 18 additional months for Haitian nationals already residing in the US.

The administration cited the conditions in Haiti, "including socioeconomic challenges, political instability, and gang violence and crime", as the reason for extending TPS, which shields Haitians from deportation and gives them US work permits.

But thousands of Haitian migrants have been repatriated over the past year from Haiti's neighbour, the Dominican Republic, the only other country on the island of Hispaniola. Top UN officials in November called on Dominican authorities to halt the removals, but they have continued.

Moise killing investigation

More than a year after a gang of armed mercenaries stormed Moise's Port-au-Prince home and assassinated the Haitian president, the country's investigation into what happened appears to have stalled.

Dozens of people, including several Colombian nationals, have been arrested as part of the ongoing inquiry into what led to the assassination on July 7, 2021. But the process has been slow-moving. Many questions - and theories - remain as to why Moise was killed.

The US Department of Justice has said a group of about 20 Colombians, as well as some Haitian Americans, participated in the scheme. While the plan initially focused on kidnapping Moise in a purported arrest operation, justice department officials said it "ultimately resulted in a plot to kill the president".

The US has charged three men for their alleged roles in the assassination.

Calls for support

Now, as 2023 begins, international organisations have called for more support to help Haiti respond to the crises it faces.

"Things are now at a breaking point. This crisis will not pass - it needs renewed and robust humanitarian assistance," Jean-Martin Bauer, the Haiti director of the UN World Food Programme, said on December 19.

Bauer said that more than half of the Haitian population - approximately 4.7 million people - face a food crisis. That includes 19,000 residents of the violence-plagued Port-au-Prince neighbourhood of Cite Soleil, who are suffering from a "catastrophic" level of food insecurity.

"What Haiti is experiencing now is not merely a bout of instability that will subside as part of some regular cycle the world is inured to. Haiti is experiencing a crisis on an unprecedented scale that can only worsen - unless we act fast and with greater urgency from us all," he said.

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After year of 'unprecedented crises', what next for Haiti?

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For Haiti, 2022 began much like the previous year ended - in the grips of widespread violence and political instability. And over the past 12 months, the situation has largely failed to improve: Haitians have faced a surge in gang attacks and kidnappings, fuel and electricity shortages, a deepening political deadlock and a deadly outbreak of cholera.

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Haiti remains in ‘acute political and institutional crisis’, Security Council hears

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Despite some signs of progress in ending the political, economic and humanitarian crisis that has worsened across Haiti since the assassination of its president last year, the situation there remains “fraught and highly polarized”, the UN envoy to the country told the Security Council on Friday.

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- U.N. Secretary General António Guterres on Monday insisted on the deployment of an international specialized armed force to Haiti and called on governments to consider halting deportations as the country's situation spirals.

The recommendations were issued as part of a report on the U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti, with Guterres noting that gang-related violence and human rights violations have reached a critical level.

"The people of Haiti are suffering the worst human rights and humanitarian emergency in decades," he wrote.

Guterres noted that while last year's gang-led siege at a main fuel terminal has ended, a special force is still needed to ensure that key infrastructure remains unobstructed and that people are able to safely vote in a general election whose date has not been set.

The number of reported killings soared by 35% last year compared with the previous year, with more than 2,100 slain. In addition, kidnappings more than doubled last year, with more than 1,350 victims.

Meanwhile, Haiti's National Police is underfunded and under-resourced, with only some 9,700 active-duty officers in a country of more than 11 million people.

"There are also allegations that a significant number of national police...may be associated with gangs," Guterres said.

In recent months, countries including Canada and the U.S. have offered training and resources including armored vehicles, but police remain largely outmatched by gangs whose power and territorial control have expanded since President Jovenel Moïse was slain at his private residence in July 2021.

Haiti also is struggling with a deadly cholera outbreak worsened by gang violence and a spike in the number of people who are starving as countries including the U.S. and the Dominican Republic have deported tens of thousands of Haitians in the past year.

The report was released a day before the U.N. Security Council is scheduled to meet and talk about Haiti.

Late last year, the council imposed sanctions on individuals and groups that threatened peace in Haiti, including a powerful gang leader, but it did not vote on the deployment of armed forces as requested by Haiti's top officials in October.

With no democratically elected institutions left in Haiti after the terms of the remaining 10 senators expired on Jan. 9, Prime Minister Ariel Henry has pledged that he is working to hold general elections as soon as possible.

Last week, Henry's administration published a decree with the names of the three members appointed to the High Transition Council, which will be responsible for choosing the provisional electoral council, the first step in preparing for elections. The decree stated that the council also will push economic and human rights reforms, create and execute a public security plan and establish milestones and deadlines for the transition period.

"We will move forward with all those who wish to do so," Henry said earlier this month.

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UN chief insists on special armed forces as Haiti spirals

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- U.N. Secretary General António Guterres on Monday insisted on the deployment of an international specialized armed force to Haiti and called on governments to consider halting deportations as the country's situation spirals. The recommendations were issued as part of a report on the U.N.