Front Burner

'A slow death:' Haitians face mounting crisis

Haiti’s unpopular government calls for foreign intervention as hunger and cholera worsen, and amid inflation and the gang takeover of a critical fuel terminal.
A woman with her children walks next to a smoldering pile of garbage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph) (Odelyn Joseph/The Associated Press)

After three years without cases, cholera is spreading through Haiti's poorest neighbourhoods as they struggle for access to clean water. 

At the same time, nearly five million Haitians are facing acute hunger. 

Gangs have seized the majority of Haiti's capital, a critical fuel terminal, and the nation's politics remain unstable after the assassination of the president in July last year.

It's these compounding crises that have led the unpopular current government to call for international intervention from the U.S., Canada and the UN — a controversial move in a country with a long history of foreign meddling. 

Today on Front Burner, independent Haitian journalist Harold Isaac explains how citizens are enduring yet another desperate situation, and why they're starting to feel like they're on their own.

Listen on Google Podcasts

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify