Hope from the Grassroots: Haiti

By Josh Leach on March 11, 2025

U.S. officials may be walking back from international commitments—but our partners around the world are still putting themselves on the line to protect their communities. UUSC’s grassroots partners use community-led solutions to advance collective liberation, regardless of whether the government is on board. While this article is the last in our three-part series, it is certainly not the end of the story. Get all of our latest grassroots here.

What’s Happening in Haiti: In recent years, U.S. foreign policy toward Haiti has helped to spawn a total breakdown of state institutions. The U.S. government backed a string of authoritarian strongmen in the Caribbean country, who consolidated personal power at the expense of Haitian civil society and democratic institutions. As a result, the country was left unequipped to defend itself against a wave of paramilitary-style gangs, who have since seized control of the capital—and are now murdering, kidnapping, and assaulting civilians with impunity.

Having helped create this crisis in the first place, the U.S. government now appears to be at risk of abandoning Haiti at its moment of need. The Trump administration’s foreign aid freeze cast doubt on future U.S. support for the current Kenya-led multinational security mission to the country. Even worse, the aid cuts jeopardize key medical and nutritional support for Haiti, at a time when the country is already facing a crisis of mass displacement and hunger. 

Our Partners’ Response: UUSC’s Haitian partners at the Mouvement Paysan de Papaye (MPP) have issued a powerful call for global solidarity—reminding the world not to close our eyes to what’s happening in Haiti. UUSC will continue trying to live up to this call, resourcing MPP’s efforts to respond to the immediate needs of Haiti’s population, while building a safe and just Haitian-led solution to the crisis, rooted in principles of ecological sustainability and food sovereignty. 

Even if the U.S. government and powerful politicians willfully deny the need for global solidarity, our grassroots partners never will. With our support, they will keep fighting for a just and equitable future. You can help sustain their efforts with a donation to UUSC. A contribution in any amount helps our partners defend human rights—even in the midst of some of the world’s most protracted conflicts.

Image credit: Micah Bazant