True leadership anticipates the storm — not just survives it.
Politics | The Haitian Pulse Editorial Team | July 2, 2025
As mass deportations loom under Trump’s expanded immigration agenda, Haiti stands on the edge of yet another humanitarian crisis. Thousands of Haitians, many of whom have lived abroad for years, are being forcibly returned to a country that lacks basic stability. And yet, amid this unfolding disaster, a deafening question rises: Does Haiti have any real leaders?
We’ve heard names. Plenty of them. Names that circle around positions of power and cling to influence. But names are not leadership. Titles are not vision. Speeches are not strategy. Haiti is confronting a moment that demands more than officeholders — it requires visionaries who can turn catastrophe into foundation, crisis into transformation.
Opportunity in the Chaos
In any other nation, a wave of returning citizens — however tragic — would trigger a full-scale mobilization. Emergency reintegration plans, job training initiatives, housing support, community counseling, and infrastructure expansion would be on the table. Because in the chaos lies an opportunity: a chance to reclaim human capital, build systems, and reinforce national resilience.
But in Haiti? Silence.
“Leadership is the ability to see the storm coming and start building shelter before the clouds break.”
There is no national commission for reintegration. No task force. No widespread dialogue in Parliament. No mobilization of NGOs or diaspora networks. There isn’t even a hint of urgency from those who claim to lead this country.
This is not just administrative negligence — it’s a moral failure.
A Country Without a Landing Pad
Imagine hundreds of thousands of deportees returning to a country with no employment prospects, no education access, no psychological services, and no national plan to help them reconnect. They return not to opportunity, but to rejection. To stigma. To abandonment.
And what happens when people have nowhere to turn? They turn to anyone who offers them something — even if it’s a gun, a gang, or a cause rooted in violence.
Haiti is already overrun by gang coalitions. If our so-called leaders cannot see that an unprepared flood of returnees will feed that fire, then they are not leaders. They are seat-holders with no foresight.
“When leadership fails to anticipate, disaster is no longer a surprise — it is a guarantee.”
Reintegration Isn’t Charity — It’s Strategy
Reintegration is not a soft-hearted option. It is a national security priority. A functional nation must have a process to receive its own people, especially when they are forced back under duress. Haiti has neither the infrastructure nor the political will. And this is why we are crumbling.
A real leader would already be securing international aid not for personal gain, but for infrastructure to support deportees. They would be setting up reintegration centers in each department. They would be coordinating with diaspora networks for support. They would be training civil servants and local governments on how to absorb the returnee population without collapse.
But there is none of this.
When Names Fail to Become Leaders
We hear names like historian Michel Soukar, the academically inclined economist Edzer Emile, political figure Dr. Frantz Large, and the usual crowd of opportunistic politicians waiting in the shadows for the next election cycle. Yet, what concrete plans can they possibly claim to have when they’re not even acknowledging the crisis ahead — let alone developing the infrastructure to confront it?"
Where is Guy Philippe, the self-proclaimed leader of the revolution — the man who declared himself ready to restore the dignity of Haiti? What plans has he laid out for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians about to be deported? What infrastructure has he proposed, what solutions has he offered? The silence is staggering, and his inaction speaks louder than any slogan.
The tragedy isn’t just that this situation is happening. The deeper tragedy is that no one is rising to meet it. This moment presents a rare and critical opportunity — a test of authenticity for all the self-proclaimed leaders who claim to love Haiti. If they are truly committed to national service, then now is the time to rise above slogans and political theater. True leadership means showing up when it matters most, creating actionable plans, and standing on the frontlines of crisis with courage and strategy. Haiti does not need more promises — it needs vision backed by movement, plans backed by courage, and voices that echo not just during campaign season, but in times of national distress. Not one figure in power has stepped forward with a bold, organized plan. If leadership is about anticipating needs before they become emergencies — then what we have now in Haiti is the complete absence of leadership.
We are not just in a governance crisis. We are in a vision crisis.
And until someone emerges who can transform trauma into opportunity, we will remain trapped in this loop: being acted upon by outside forces, without any internal anchor to guide us forward.
“If we cannot even begin to prepare for what we already see coming, then we are not governing a country. We are watching it drown.”
Final Thought
If no one steps up to build a reintegration system now, Haiti will not just receive deportees — it will absorb chaos. And the price will not just be paid in headlines or political embarrassment. It will be paid in lives, in lost generations, in further decay. We must demand more — because Haiti cannot afford less.
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