Are Haiti’s gangs cooking up a coup?

Where in the world is Haiti’s prime minister? Nobody knew for a few days. Ariel Henry left the crisis-wracked Caribbean island nation in late February on a trip to Guyana and then Kenya, where he signed an agreement for a Kenyan-led police force to come to Haiti.

Since then … it had been mostly crickets from Henry, even as Haiti burned. Then, late Tuesday, Henry left New Jersey to fly home, but his plane was reportedly denied entry to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, so he landed instead in Puerto Rico.

Over the weekend, Haiti's powerful gangs busted thousands of criminals out of prison, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency. Undeterred, the gangs have also attacked the main airport of Port-au-Prince, the capital, where various criminal organizations already control some 80% of the city.

One man claims credit for the surge in violence, Jimmy Chérizier, the fearsome ex-cop-turned-gang leader known as “Barbecue.” He has called for Henry’s resignation and threatened to make it impossible for the PM to return to the country.

Henry, as a reminder, took over after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and has postponed elections citing security concerns, even at the cost of his legitimacy in the eyes of the public. But now, stuck outside the country entirely as gangs run riot within it, he risks losing control of the country altogether.