CARICOM issues urgent plea as Haiti’s transition crumbles

The appeal comes just days before the mandate of the Haitian Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) is set to expire on February 7, with no clear path forward and the country mired in unprecedented violence and humanitarian suffering.

In a strongly-worded statement released Tuesday, CARICOM expressed “great concern” over the “internal turmoil” at the highest levels of the Haitian state. The regional bloc highlighted the “current impasse within the Haitian Transitional Presidential Council, following the inconclusive efforts of some members to dismiss the Prime Minister,” arguing it “renders more complex an already fraught governance transition process.”

The political deadlock centres on a defiant move by the TPC to oust Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, a move that has sparked a diplomatic standoff with the United States. This infighting threatens to derail the fragile political accord of April 3, 2024, which established the transitional framework. With the TPC’s legal authority nearing its end, the vacuum of legitimate power risks plunging the nation into deeper chaos.

“Meanwhile, the people of Haiti continue to suffer unimaginable violence and deprivation. This is unacceptable,” the CARICOM statement declared, underscoring the grim reality beyond the palace walls.

That reality is one of catastrophic collapse. As of January 2026, armed gangs control an estimated 80-90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince. A staggering 1.3 million people are internally displaced, fleeing widespread terror that saw over 8,100 killings documented in the first 11 months of 2025 alone. The UN-backed Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission struggles to operate amid critical funding shortages.

The human cost is astronomical. Nearly half the population — 5.7 million people — faces acute food insecurity, while over three million children require urgent humanitarian aid. The economy is in a death spiral, entrenched in a sixth year of recession with a rapidly depreciating gourde and skyrocketing inflation.

Amidst the devastation, a sliver of hope persists in long-term planning. In a notable development, UNESCO recently signed a $6.8 million agreement to support a comprehensive curriculum reform, a project aimed at modernizing Haiti’s crippled education system for a future generation.

CARICOM, however, stressed that the immediate priority must be survival and stability. The bloc has offered its eminent persons group to facilitate dialogue among Haiti’s fractured stakeholders, urging them to “put aside differences to reach consensus.”

“CARICOM’s foremost hope is for a halt to current fragmentation which works only for the benefit of the gangs,” the statement read, calling for a restoration of stability so that elections — theoretically slated for early 2027 but widely considered improbable under current conditions — can eventually be held.

With the February 7 deadline looming, CARICOM’s final appeal was a direct challenge to Haiti’s political class: to “act responsibly, and with urgency and patriotism”, and to “put the future of their people and country above all else”. 

As the transition timeline dissolves into turmoil, the world watches to see if Haiti’s leaders will heed the call before the nation falls past the point of no return.