From Kenyan visa snubs to Bahamian travel bans, Haiti is being disrespected on every front—and corrupt leadership has left the nation defenseless.
Opinion | The Haitian Pulse | July 17, 2025
Haiti’s global humiliation is no longer just a whisper. It is a roar echoing from Nairobi to Nassau, a bitter reminder of how far a proud nation has fallen. From visa bans to travel advisories, countries once considered allies now treat Haiti like a pariah.
This shame is not accidental. It is the fruit of decades of corrupt, weak, and subservient leadership imposed on Haiti—leaders who bow to foreign powers while leaving their people to starve.
And now, as Kenya sends its police force into Haitian streets under the guise of “peacekeeping,” Haitians watch in disbelief as that same government slams its doors on them.
A Nation on Its Knees
The Kenyan government recently announced visa-free travel for citizens across Africa and parts of the Caribbean. Conspicuously absent from that list? Haiti.
Haitian activist Marleine Etienne of Miami did not mince words:
“It’s the height of hypocrisy. How dare Kenya deploy police to Haiti, cashing in millions in aid contracts, yet refuse our citizens basic respect? This isn’t partnership—it’s parasitism.”
The Kenyan mission in Haiti has been celebrated by international donors as a “step toward stabilization.” But on the ground, security remains a fantasy. Gangs still roam freely, and millions of dollars are being funneled to foreign officers while Haitians beg for clean water, jobs, and medical care.
“This Kenyan deployment is nothing but theater,” says Boston-based diaspora leader Jean-Paul Guerrier. “They are paid handsomely while Haitians starve. It’s time we demand their immediate removal.”
The Bahamas Joins the Chorus of Contempt
Adding salt to Haiti’s wounds, the Bahamian government issued a “Do Not Travel” advisory, warning its citizens to avoid Haiti due to rising insecurity and illegal activities.
This move came days after Haitian authorities intercepted a drug boat near Lil Latòti carrying Bahamian and Jamaican nationals, two of whom were injured during the intervention.
“Let’s be honest,” says Port-au-Prince community organizer Rose Desir, “Haitian leaders have so utterly failed that now even our neighbors in the Caribbean see us as a threat—not a partner.”
For a nation that once inspired the world with its revolutionary spirit, this treatment is a staggering indignity.
Leadership That Betrays
The real question is not why Kenya or the Bahamas behave this way—it’s why they can.
Haiti’s leaders have traded away sovereignty for crumbs. Instead of building systems that work, they’ve made the nation a playground for foreign interests.
Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé recently returned from Washington after a “diplomatic offensive” that yielded nothing but photo ops with mid-level U.S. officials. Yet he was met at the airport by rara bands and jubilant crowds as though he had won independence all over again.
“When leaders dance for their masters abroad and for their subjects at home, the country suffers,” says Montreal-based scholar Dr. Jacques Lafleur.
The Call for Resistance
Haiti’s people cannot afford to wait for salvation from those who have sold them out. The time has come for a mass awakening.
The Kenyan police must go. Their mission has failed, and their government’s treatment of Haitians abroad is proof that they have no real respect for the people they claim to serve.
“They’re not here for peace. They’re here for paychecks,” says diaspora activist Yvrose Pierre-Louis.
Funds flowing to Kenyan troops should be redirected to Haitian communities—to rebuild schools, hospitals, and a domestic security force untainted by foreign manipulation.
“Haiti needs a grassroots-led security solution, not hired guns who see us as a cash cow,” says Desir.
Why It Matters
If Haiti does not rise now, it risks total erasure—not just from maps but from history itself. Every humiliation chips away at the revolutionary legacy of Dessalines, Toussaint, and Christophe.
“The ancestors are watching. They fought to make Haiti free. Are we really going to let corrupt politicians and foreign powers bury that legacy?” asks Guerrier.
The world will not save Haiti. Only Haitians—united, defiant, and awakened—can do that.
The Haitian Pulse Speaks
This is a warning and a call to action.
Haiti must demand:
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The immediate withdrawal of Kenyan police and the reallocation of those funds to Haitian security.
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Accountability from leaders who sell national dignity for personal gain.
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A nationwide awakening to resist this masquerade of “international aid.”
Haitians everywhere—at home and in the diaspora—must recognize: if we do not stand now, there may soon be nothing left to stand for.
“When outsiders come with guns and leave with our dignity, the people must rise and reclaim their country.”
“Haiti has become a playground for international experiments. They come here, take pictures, issue press releases, and leave us worse than they found us. Meanwhile, their policies at home reveal what they really think of us.”
The Bahamas Joins the Chorus of Contempt
As if Kenya’s slight weren’t enough, the Bahamian government recently issued a “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti, warning its citizens to avoid the country at all costs due to growing insecurity.
This move came days after Haitian authorities intercepted a drug-laden boat off Lil Latòti’s coast. Among those arrested were Bahamian and Jamaican nationals, some of whom were injured during the operation.
Rather than acknowledging the role Bahamians play in Haiti’s drug trade, Nassau chose to vilify Haiti and portray it as a no-go zone.
“Bahamas benefits daily from Haitian labor, yet has the audacity to tell its citizens to avoid Haiti,” said Haitian lawyer Michel André. “This is not about safety; this is about perpetuating the image of Haiti as a failed state.”
Marie Paul, a Haitian-American community leader in New York, added:
“We are witnessing the weaponization of Haiti’s pain. These governments are not just protecting their people—they are sending a message that Haitians are unworthy, even of basic dignity.”
A Nation Betrayed by Its Own Leaders
While the world hurls insults, Haiti’s leaders continue to parade abroad, begging for crumbs and photo ops. The current de facto administration under Alix Didier Fils-Aimé epitomizes this failure. After returning from a trip to Washington with nothing to show, Fils-Aimé was welcomed home with rara bands and fanfare—as though he had secured liberation itself.
This is the politics of masquerade: failure repackaged as victory, betrayal disguised as diplomacy.
“The humiliation Haiti suffers abroad mirrors the betrayal Haitians endure at home,” said sociologist Dr. Jacques Pierre-Louis. “When you have leaders who grovel before foreign powers, don’t be surprised when the world treats your country as expendable.”
Haiti’s Long Road to Dignity
For generations, Haiti’s political elite has sold the nation’s sovereignty piece by piece. Foreign troops land on our shores without accountability. International agencies dictate policy. Even our skies and ports are auctioned to the highest bidder.
Yet the Haitian people remain resilient. Across the diaspora and within the country, voices are rising, demanding an end to this cycle of humiliation.
Nadia Desrosiers, a Haitian community organizer in Canada, declared:
“Haitians are not begging for charity. We are demanding respect—and that starts with cleaning house in Haiti itself.”
The Call for an Uprising of Dignity
Haiti’s salvation will not come from Kenya, the Bahamas, or any other nation. It will not come from foreign police or NGO interventions.
It will come from a people who finally recognize their own power.
The Haitian masses hold all the cards. Only a nationwide uprising can break the chains of corruption and foreign control.
As activist Jean-Paul Destiné wrote in a fiery social media post:
“Haitians must rise—not against each other, but against the system that keeps us begging and bleeding. The time for patience is over.”
The Haitian Pulse Speaks
At The Haitian Pulse, we refuse to mince words:
Haiti’s leaders have failed catastrophically. They have allowed the nation to become the world’s cautionary tale, a symbol of what happens when a people’s spirit is crushed by corruption and foreign meddling.
Kenya’s exclusion of Haiti from its visa program and the Bahamas’ travel ban are not isolated acts. They are symptoms of a deeper rot.
But Haiti’s story is not over.
This is a nation born of fire and revolution, of enslaved people who toppled empires. That spirit still burns.
The only question is whether Haitians today will summon the courage to finish the fight their ancestors began.
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