Wars between rival gangs and a crumbling supply chain forced some 35,000 Haitians to flee their homes in November 2024 alone.
Haiti has faced instability since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The current wave of displacement, the largest since August 2023, comes as armed gangs who have joined forces strengthen their grip on the capital, leaving the national Police overwhelmed and under-equipped.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has banned flights to Haiti for at least the next 30 days. International flights remain grounded, compounding the beleaguered nation’s sense of isolation. These moves cripple the distribution of economic and humanitarian aid to Haitians.
The toll of gang-related violence has reached catastrophic levels, with the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reporting nearly 4,000 gang-related deaths in 2024 alone.
How We Got Here
One of the oldest republics in the Western Hemisphere was doomed before independence, and it’s been one setback after another since then.
The French colonized St. Domingue (the future Haiti) in the 1600s. Almost right off the bat, large sugar plantations and African slaves headed to America dominated the island. At the time, sugar exportation was a very lucrative and very resource-intensive endeavor. The French were glad to get the money and didn’t care about the damage to Haiti’s natural environment.
Even today, the difference between Haiti and its neighbor, the Dominican Republic, is stark. In satellite photos, the DR looks like a thriving democracy, which is what it is. Haiti looks like a moonscape. Some eleven million people are trying to make a living on this moonscape.
We mentioned slaves in Haiti above. By around 1800, enslaved people vastly outnumbered free people. The enslaved people revolted in 1803, forming a slave republic the next year. U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, who was a slaveholder, refused to recognize the new nation of Haiti. Indeed, the U.S. didn’t extend diplomatic recognition to Haiti until 1861, when the South had seceded and could no longer oppose this move.
A lot happened between 1804 and 1861. The highlight (or lowlight) was France’s attempt to re-take its former colony in 1825. King Charles dispatched a fleet of ships to Haiti. Charles canceled his invasion plans the next year after the Haitians agreed to pay a bounty of 150 million francs, a staggering sum that the nation didn’t finish paying off until 1947.
Around that time, the U.S. suddenly became very interested in the country it had ignored for so many decades. The Americans invaded Haiti in 1915 in response to a threat to nationalize sugar plantations (which U.S. investors owned) and again in 1994 to reinstall on again, off again President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
After the dust settled, Haiti appeared to have turned the corner when, in 2008, a devastating earthquake rocked the island. Given its lack of resources and weak leadership, Haiti was utterly unable to deal with the crisis.
When people have nothing, they often turn to crime in order to get something. Many of the gangs that roam the streets of Port au Prince today have their roots in the post-earthquake chaos.
Contractors in Haiti
As is often the case, when nations are in turmoil, especially nations that are strategically important to the United States, contractors move in to clean up the mess, or at least try to clean it up. Today, contractors have several duties in Haiti:
- Security: ‘Law and order’ is an election issue in the United States. It is a survival issue in Haiti. Until residents feel safe enough to go out at night, the political situation in Haiti will not improve. Many private military contractors are former law enforcement officers. Crowd control, mild intimidation, and quick responses are in their blood.
- Construction: Those 35,000 people probably won’t return home until basic utility services are restored. Other basic services, such as schools and hospitals, must be up and running as well. Contractors ensure that these capital projects are finished on schedule. Contractors also guard construction sites to prevent sabotage.
- Training: Private military contractors share their skills with government recruits, teaching them things that they would normally only learn in the field. So, these recruits hit the streets with skills like knowing how to defend themselves, stop potential trouble, and gather intelligence from locals.
Ultimately, Haiti’s government will assume all these functions, which makes combat training perhaps the most important contractor duty in Haiti.
Contractor Injuries
All these tasks are dangerous. Combat and construction contractors alike are at risk for trauma injuries and occupational diseases.
Motor vehicle collisions are the most common trauma injuries. These accidents could happen in the field, on a construction site, or during a training exercise. Haiti’s lack of good roadway infrastructure, as mentioned above, often contributes to motor vehicle crashes.
These crashes usually cause various kinds of head injuries, including TBIs (traumatic brain injuries) and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). During a crash, the brain slams against the insides of the skull, causing brain bleeding and swelling. The extreme stress of a wreck alters the brain’s chemical composition, causing symptoms like anger, flashbacks, and depression.
Hearing loss may be the most common occupational disease among contractors. Continued exposure to sounds as quiet as 35 decibels, which is basically a busy street corner, permanently damages hearing. These victims often put off medical treatment too long, which means a minor hearing loss matter becomes a major issue.
Hearing loss also causes emotional injuries. People who cannot hear well usually withdraw from family and friends, sending them into a spiraling depression.
Injury Compensation Available
A Defense Base Act lawyer can obtain compensation for these and other illnesses and injuries if an incident during deployment in an overseas war zone substantially caused the illness or injury.
Deployment is any mission that advances the interests of the United States. This category includes everyone from the toughest private military contractor to the meekest Peace Corps volunteer.
Any official U.S. military presence makes a country a “war zone” for DBA purposes. That official presence could be a large occupying army or a single Marine guard at an embassy. Normally, the injured contractor must be under contract with a U.S. government agency, such as the State Department.
Substantial cause means just that. Contributing causes don’t count. Bad roads sometimes contribute to car crashes, but driver mistakes, usually aggressive driving or impaired driving, substantially cause these accidents, at least in most cases. So, maximum benefits are available even if a victim’s pre-existing medical condition contributed to the risk and/or severity of illness and/or injury.
For more information about DBA procedure, contact Barnett, Lerner, Karsen, Frankel & Castro, P.A.