As the Haitian people starve and suffer under chaos, their leaders return from fruitless trips abroad to fanfare and rara bands—as if abject failure deserves a hero’s welcome.
The Haitian Pulse | July 18, 2025
The masquerade continues. After a quiet departure to the United States, where he met only minor officials at the White House and returned with nothing tangible for Haiti, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé is preparing to land back in Port-au-Prince to the sound of rara bands and a staged spectacle. It’s a surreal scene in a country where millions go to bed hungry, streets are ruled by gangs, and the government’s legitimacy exists only on paper.
The contrast is staggering: a leader who left the country unnoticed is orchestrating his own “triumphal return,” as if he were a conqueror coming back from a victorious campaign. But what did he conquer? Nothing but photo ops and empty promises.
The Farce in Washington
Fils-Aimé’s trip to Washington was pitched as an “offensive to defend Haiti’s strategic interests.” Yet it yielded no breakthrough agreements, no firm commitments, and no concrete measures to alleviate Haiti’s worsening crisis. According to his office, he met with a few members of Congress and mid-level bureaucrats—but not a single senior White House official.
This was no victory. It was a polite dismissal. And yet, back in Haiti, government propagandists are working overtime to spin the failure into glory.
A Royal Welcome for an Emperor Without Clothes
Upon his return, Fils-Aimé will be greeted at Toussaint Louverture Airport with singing, dancing, and a carefully choreographed reception. Government workers, likely under pressure to attend, and desperate citizens living in camps have been mobilized to create the illusion of popular support.
It’s a tactic as old as Haitian politics itself: use pageantry to distract from impotence. But this time, the show feels especially obscene.
“How can a man return as if crowned in triumph while the country burns?” asked diaspora activist Marjorie Belizaire from Miami. “What kind of leader dances on the ashes of his people’s suffering?”
A Population Left in Ruins
As the motorcade rolls through Port-au-Prince, entire neighborhoods remain under gang siege. Parents bury children killed in crossfire. Hunger gnaws at families surviving on less than a dollar a day. Hospitals lack medicine; schools sit empty.
And yet, the ruling class celebrates. Ministers and their cronies, many complicit in Haiti’s collapse, will pose for photos and toast champagne as if they have delivered salvation.
“This is not leadership; this is theater,” said Jean-Marc Toussaint, a Haitian-born lawyer in New York. “It’s bread and circuses for a people without bread.”
A Tradition of Hollow Triumphs
Haitian leaders have long perfected the art of turning failure into celebration. From bogus infrastructure inaugurations to ribbon-cuttings at empty hospitals, the political class excels at performing progress while delivering none.
Fils-Aimé’s airport spectacle is just the latest episode. But it comes at a time when the Haitian people can least afford illusions.
“Every parade thrown for these leaders is another slap in the face of those dying in silence,” said Josette Lamour, a community organizer in Cap-Haïtien.
The Mask Must Fall
It’s time to call this charade what it is: a grotesque distraction. Haiti’s salvation will not come from leaders who bow to foreign masters abroad and parade like kings before the suffering masses at home. It will come only when the Haitian people tear off the mask and expose the masquerade for what it is.
The Haitian Pulse Perspective
At The Haitian Pulse, we deliver fearless, diasporic perspectives that challenge corruption, expose opportunism, and amplify the voices too often silenced. Our reporting connects local struggles to universal calls for justice and progress. Every story we publish is rooted in integrity and an unwavering commitment to a better future for Haiti and its people.
We invite readers to leave their thoughts below. Let the conversation begin—and let the masquerade end.
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