The streets of Haiti had been clogged for months with angry protesters who burned tires, stormed banks and robbed stores. Gangs, with the sometimes tacit permission of the police, have been kidnapping nuns, fruit vendors and even schoolgirls for ransom. And then on Wednesday, the country slid deeper into turmoil, when a convoy of gunmen brazenly rumbled up to the home of the president, Jovenel Moïse, in the middle of the night and shot him dead. The country’s morass has for decades put it near the top of a list of nations, such as Afghanistan and Somalia, that have captured the world’s imagination for their levels of despair. In the shadow of the richest country in the world, people wonder: How could this happen to Haiti?

Source: International New York Times July 08, 2021 09:00 UTC