On 12 March, Haiti’s president Ariel Henry agreed to resign after turmoil prevented him from returning to his country from a trip abroad. He is not alone in being stranded: over the past months, thousands of Haitians have fled chaos and gang violence to neighbouring Dominican Republic. The crisis recently intensified with weeks of protests against Henry and a mass prison break in Port-au-Prince and Croix-des-Bouquets. Following a meeting of the Caricom group of regional leaders, Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali announced Henry’s intention to resign, saying that a presidential council will oversee a transition. Henry — who is unelected and has repeatedly pushed back elections — came to power after the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moïse as the preferred candidate of the US and UN at that time.

Since the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804, in which enslaved people liberated themselves and overthrew French colonial rule, Haiti has experienced enormous upheavals, interference and natural disaster. Many observers describe the country as a failed state, though the researcher Jake Johnston prefers the term ‘aid state’ — one in which foreign donors make decisions usually handled democratically. Here is a selection of articles that shed light on the context of this latest crisis.