Biden Has Few Options in Stabilizing Haiti in the Wake of an Assassination
The last time Haiti was thrust into turmoil by assassination was 1915, when an angry group of rebels raided the French Embassy and beat to death President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, ushering in weeks of chaos that triggered a nearly two-decade U.S. military intervention.
With the era of gunboat diplomacy long over, the U.S. is unlikely to deploy troops in the aftermath of the brazen slaying Wednesday of President Jovenel Moïse in an overnight raid at his home.
But the Biden administration may nonetheless find itself dragged into the country’s increasingly violent political conflict, one that has been building — if largely ignored by Washington — for months and which is now expected to deepen further, with the immediate path forward blurred by intrigue.
