https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2ld49lqq5qo
Over Friday, January third and Saturday, January fourth, 150 Guatemalan soldiers arrived in Haiti as part of an effort to restore peace to Haiti due to gang violence. Since the assassination of the Haitian president in 2021 the country has been in shambles because of the lack of government control and therefore a rapidly weakening economy which has made Haiti the poorest country in the Americas. Sending the soldiers is part of a UN backed operation led by Kenya and funded mostly by the US. Soldiers from Jamaica, Belize, and El Salvador have also been part of the effort. Thus far, the mission has been unsuccessful, as violence prevails.
It is unlikely that within the next year that the UN mission will be successful in Haiti. If the increase of UN assigned soldiers hasn’t already at least scared off some gang violence, slowly increasing numbers are also not going to invoke fear, especially as the article doesn’t mention specifically what the soldiers are doing so I assume it’s supposed to be a fear thing. Though the UN mission may be unsuccessful it is possible that Haiti could fall under the control of a powerful gang/gang leader which could add more government control to the state of things and possibly aid the economy. Though, the UN probably wouldn’t like that and if that were to occur the organization would probably try to push back. If a leader rose up, however, and provided the Haitian people with some comfort of structure, the country could become nationalistic and in turn protest the interference of the UN. This is very much like what happened to Germany following the first world war. After reparations and living in poverty, Hitler gained a large following because he promised stability and instilled a sense of pride.
This isn’t really a big international security concern though it could threaten some industries slightly, though the UN is involved so that could end up meaning something. I think that there’s sort of a constructivism connection here especially in regards to my analysis, with a focus on identity. The Haitians are looking for stability and a strong leader could do that. And in order to gain the people’s trust this person would need to dig into Haitian identity and culture, really instill a sense of pride in the country which would get them liked pretty quickly. I think there’s also a connection here demonstrating sort of a realism aspect, not on states in general but more people. Sort of like how Hobbes describes a state of man. Very power hungry, brutish. Even with the fear possibly of UN soldiers the gang violence hasn’t decreased which is sort of proof of realism if you focus on the individual/mankind aspect.