Negotiating with Terrorists in Haiti
If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, it will provide useful context for this article.
The first day of my captivity, I was told by the other captives (some had been in for over thirty days) that I would eventually get to make a phone call. For Haitians, that phone call was typically to a family member. The family would then need to appoint a negotiator.
It took me a while to accept that I would even need a negotiator.
My arrogance led me to believe I knew the right people and had enough leverage in Haiti that if I were ever kidnapped, I’d have a few 'get out of jail free' cards to play. I played those cards. Somewhere around my third day in captivity, I realized that they didn’t work.
I then tried to negotiate on my own behalf - a big mistake (long story for another day).
I don’t know why I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’m sure you can imagine that being the negotiator is a terribly heavy burden. The gangs are experts at terrorizing families. Being the negotiator is an all-consuming emotional siege. The negotiator stays in the hot seat for as long as he or she can but is often replaced due to exhaustion.
One of my fellow captives, named Stefanie (who has since become like family to my wife and I), shared with me that she had been thrust into the negotiator seat a couple of years earlier when a friend of hers was kidnapped. If you met her, you would not be surprised that she was pushed into that role. She’s incredibly strong.
Her experience as the negotiator was at a time when gangs were just starting to learn how to kidnap effectively. Stefanie still had trauma scars from her role in that event, which lasted only a few days and ended safely. In those days, gangs would do it more like what you’d imagine from watching TV. It happened quickly and was over quickly because the gangs were afraid of getting caught. The gangs are now no longer afraid, so they hold their captives for much longer to make sure they have leveraged every terrifying phone call, photo, or text message to squeeze every available penny out of their victims.
This is what gangs do.
It’s far worse than simply stealing, on a number of levels. Economists call it destructive entrepreneurship. It’s when an actor seeks to enrich themselves at the expense of another, and the result is a net reduction in wealth. If someone steals $100 from your pocket and puts it into theirs, that’s just stealing. If a gang kidnaps you, takes your car, extracts a ransom, and then buys guns and ammunition to continue terrorizing future victims in addition to their own neighborhoods—that’s destructive entrepreneurship, or in other words, pillage. This downward spiral has obvious impacts on the victims and their families, but the secondary and tertiary economic impacts on a society are widespread and long-lasting.
The gangs' rampage, an insidious cycle of taking until there's nothing left to take, seems destined to continue. This pattern will persist until they exhaust all avenues of pillage, leaving a barren wasteland that necessitates a shift towards productive activities. Yet, this bleak future isn't set in stone. Intervention can disrupt this cycle.
This brings us to a critical question: what interventions can effectively turn the tide? Security assistance is soon to be underway and will eventually beat back the gangs. However, lasting change will require something to address the root cause of the situation in Haiti.
Haiti’s recent history has been plagued by overpopulation in proportion to its economy. This incongruity is at the heart of many of Haiti's current challenges. For a slightly deeper dive into this, you can read our article here. The result is that Haiti does not have enough food or funds to support itself. The world has subsequently and generously offered humanitarian aid. This is helpful in saving lives in the short term, but the population continues to grow because of the great humanitarian work being done in the areas of infant mortality, disease prevention, and food distribution, while the economy has to some degree been left behind in comparison.
The Haitian economy has somewhat miraculously continued to grow each year (excluding ‘22 and ‘23 for obvious reasons). This is a powerful testament to the tenacity and grit of the Haitian entrepreneur. However, population growth continues to outpace economic growth. That means that over time, there is less and less wealth in Haiti to be shared. Haiti has been stuck in this poverty trap for many years and now it appears to be getting worse.
About 30% of Haitians live in extreme poverty (less than $2.15/day) as defined by The World Bank and the U.N.
However, there is an even more troubling level of poverty that some endure, which may be worth defining.
The day I was kidnapped, I was traveling from one food distribution site in Jacmel to another near Port-au-Prince. When we do those projects, we are trying to get the food to those with the most critical need. We are faced with the harrowing task of drawing a distinction between the hungry and the truly starving (at risk of death). This is a level we refer to internally as Critical Poverty.
Critical Poverty brings with it a sense of urgency.
I heard a colleague in Haiti once cynically mutter, “Morality is a luxury of the rich.” I was shocked when I heard it. I don’t believe it to be true, but that kind of perspective points my attention to the extreme difficulty of maintaining high ethics in desperate circumstances.
In our work in fighting child trafficking, we have found that parents are often the ones selling their own children to avoid starvation. I am not advocating for these parents' choices, but if you’ve never had to decide between losing your life or losing your virtue, judge slowly.
Those who are experiencing Critical Poverty often make desperate choices.
When there is not enough food, water, shelter, or medicine to go around, we begin to see the effects of scarcity on a society. It is well documented that throughout human history, resource scarcity drives aggression. Life becomes survival of the fittest, and that can produce some extremely destructive shifts in the morality of ‘the fittest’.
I still remember the first time one of the chefs (Haitian Kreyol for chief or boss) apologized for being a kidnapper. I’m not sure if the chef was trying to convince us or himself when he said, “Se jis yon sikonstans nan lavi.”
I do speak some Kreyol, but Stefanie had to translate this one for me; “It’s just a circumstance of life,” she relayed to me with a look of slightly hidden disgust.
Stefanie and four of her colleagues were taken the same day I was, but from a different region. She was taken on her way home from work. The gang scouts had been tailing her for a long time.
There were six total captives in my cell at its maximum, and there was another room full of eight additional captives (including my two security/logistics guys) next door to us. Some captives had savings, others were barely putting food on the table. The gang didn’t care. They expect even the most humble captives' families to find some way to pay. Collect it from distant family members, friends, church members, etc.
It’s become a volume game for these gangs.
“Recorded Kidnappings for the Third Quarter of 2023: For the third quarter of 2023, the Crime Observation Unit (COU) of the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights (CARDH) recorded 362 kidnappings, an increase of 141.33% compared to the second quarter, during which 150 kidnappings were recorded.”
This image is AI generated. It was designed to serve as an ominous warning of what Haiti could become if we do not intervene. Sadly, this just looks like many parts of Haiti today.
This downward spiral will continue to destroy and end the lives of Haitian families if people like you and I do not intervene.
About a year ago, I spoke to a retired businessman in my neighborhood about the work I do in Haiti. He responded with some of the most cynical perspectives I could imagine; “There’s nothing you can do for those people”, “You’re wasting your money”, “I’m a self made man. If I can do it, they can do it”, “Not my problem”.
Other people often express frustration toward aid for Haiti. They often lament, “So many millions of dollars have gone down there already, and for what?”
It’s for cynics like them that we wrote this article: United We Prosper: The Case for U.S. Engagement in Haiti
There is no Haiti expert that feels this way. The experts have seen great progress in Haiti within the various work streams funded by foreign aid. There is much to be said about improving the objectives and method for aid deployment, but to advocate for it’s elimination is at best ignorant and in some cases bordering on genocidal.
However, I feel compelled to help Haiti for reasons beyond the promise of national collaborative prosperity.
I know many of these families by name. I know something of their struggles. I know something of their heartache, their empty bellies, their dreams and the massive obstacles that stand in their way. Many Haitians have lost hope.
Fortunately for us, we can help them in very real ways.
There are very clear, proven solutions to Haiti’s troubles.
It will be Haitian entrepreneurs that hold the keys to lasting independence in Haiti.
The point that I seek to make to the experts within each work stream (security, governance, economy, health, human rights, etc.) is that all other work streams must eventually be funded by Haiti’s economy. The economy is the engine that drives all of the other work streams. Therefore, economic development in Haiti must be funded well above the other work streams. You can read more about this idea in our article here.
Here’s my ask:
First, share this post on your favorite socials, then contact your Senator and Congressional Representative today, to let them know how you feel. This kind of thing really works! You can send an email or leave a voicemail.
Tell them that you support candidates who support foreign aid to Haiti and that you would like to see our aid budgets prioritize economic development spending well above other types of aid spending in Haiti. That’s it!
Yes, it takes more than one phone call, so get your friends to do it too. Then let us know you did it. We’d love to hear back from you!
Thank you for fighting for the freedom of the Haitian people! They need you!
