“[Those in power] have legitimacy because they are able to shake the hand of the U.S. ambassador or U.N. representative. That is the only thing that gives the current standing government power. Nothing else. It is not being held by any kind of popular support,” says Mamyrah Prosper, a Haitian [assistant] professor of international studies at the University of California, Irvine. Leaders are then accountable to foreign powers rather than to their own people, she says.  

For the full story, please visit https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2021/0803/Haiti-s-history-of-resilience-beyond-coups-and-natural-disaster.