05 December 22
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A former president attacks the Constitution
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
First, you say you’ll do the job. The second part is all about the document that underpins our democracy — the Constitution of the United States. Your duty as president is to “preserve, protect and defend” that document, and by so doing, the nation.
This language isn’t limited to the presidency. For example, this is the oath for military enlistees:
“I, (Name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."
In this case, the Constitution is the subject of the first two clauses. Your job is to defend and bear allegiance to this document and what it represents, even at the risk of death. You will also obey orders issued by others — the president of the United States and officers in the military. It is no coincidence that they have also sworn an oath to the Constitution.
That’s because there is no United States without our Constitution.
It defines this nation as one ruled by laws and not by men. It delineates our rights. And it provides for us to change our government through peaceful transfers of power as we deem it appropriate.
That’s what happened in the election of 2020. And the loser of that election hates it. By extension, he hates our country and our laws for allowing his defeat to occur.
This isn’t speculation. He said it himself in a post on his social media channel a few days ago.
We quote verbatim (while recognizing the words have no basis in fact and have been disproven countless times):
“So, with the revelation of MASSIVE … WIDESPREAD FRAUD … DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, … the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False … Fraudulent Elections!”
Is this statement unhinged? Certainly. Is it full of lies, conspiracy theories, and a misplaced sense of victimhood? Of course. And if these were the harmless ravings of a man on a soapbox on a New York street corner, we could hustle by, trying not to make eye contact. But they’re not.
This is a former president. This is a man who still controls much of the Republican Party. This is a man who most Republican officials feel they cannot denounce publicly with any more force than one applies to a feather duster on a porcelain figurine.
Let’s go back to what he said — in his words. This man just publicly called for “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Many in the press and pundit world worry that words like “fascism” and “autocracy” are too extreme to apply to American politics. Perhaps that was once the case, but there is also a danger in tiptoeing past the truth. Because what is being said here, with all the subtlety of a Harley revving through a yoga retreat, is that this man, who six years ago pledged an oath to defend the Constitution, now seeks to destroy it. This is the definition of autocracy. It is the seed of fascism.
There is a cruel irony that he invokes the Founding Fathers in his anti-democratic delirium. They wrote the Constitution as a check on men like him. Its protections, its separation of powers, its very spirit were meant to create a wall of stability holding back the kind of mob rule he seeks to unleash in his desperate graspings at absolute power.
This man is damaged goods — by definition, a loser. He lost the 2020 election. Most of his hand-picked candidates lost in this year’s midterms. And then there's his pathetic win-loss record in the courts. His nonsense about a stolen election was litigated and readily dismissed; judges tend to like arguments based on facts and evidence. And now, he is personally in all sorts of legal jeopardy, and he’s racking up losses there, as well.
He’s also being further damaged in the court of public opinion. There is the business of hanging out with antisemites. Turns out most Americans don’t like their leaders breaking bread with people like that. Even many in his party are now speaking out.
But if you listen to them carefully, notice their rhetorical two-steps. They may denounce the people he hangs out with and the worldview these people espouse, but few elected Republican officials or other party leaders take on the man himself with anything more than a frustrated tut-tut. When asked if they will support him in 2024, they talk about how there will be many other candidates to consider. Some even say they won’t be supporting him because he will likely lose.
All of this is fine, but it’s far from sufficient. It’s transactional.
It might matter for the Republican Party that he loses them elections, but what matters for America is that he wants to destroy the very foundation of our country. And it also matters to the country that many in his political party won’t come out and say it is wrong to call for the end of constitutional order. And why is that? Do they believe the lies of the former president? Some do. Most, however, are probably more worried that even tepid criticism might anger the base and cause them to lose future elections.
The political calculus is chilling. The political cowardice is reprehensible. You can wrap yourself in the American flag as much as you want, but if your values are not firmly rooted in the Constitution, you might as well be wearing the emperor’s clothes.
Who will have the courage to say what everyone can see?
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Russian military. (photo: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)
Deadly explosions rocked two bases deep inside Russia in a blistering new setback for Putin, who is already sustaining huge losses on Ukrainian territory.
The explosions—which may have been missile or drone strikes but that has yet to be confirmed—suggest that whoever is behind them wanted to strike fear right in the heart of Russia.
The second explosion struck the Engels-2 base, from which Tu-95 bombers have been pummeling Ukraine’s infrastructure over the last month.
A fuel truck explosion at the base near Ryazan killed at least three and wounded half a dozen and reportedly damaged Tu-95 bombers and Tu-22M long-range missile bombers, which have nuclear capability.
Video posted on social media suggests that the telltale whistle of a fighter jet or missile can be heard just before the Saratov base explosion, according to the Guardian.
Monday afternoon, several people in Crimea reported hearing explosions there, suggesting a coordinated effort.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin had been advised of the “situation” but did not speculate on who might be behind it, saying quite unbelievably that he had only “read about it” in the media, according to reporters at a briefing Monday.
Almost immediately after reports, air raid sirens across Ukraine heralded a barrage of missile strikes, with many targeting Zaporizhzhia, where at least two people were reported to have been killed after missiles destroyed several residential blocks. Several cities reported having no electricity or water after Russian strikes.
Roman Busargin, governor of the Saratov region where the Engels-2 base is housed, wrote on Telegram that law enforcement agencies were chasing “information about incidents at military facilities,” adding that, “No emergencies have occurred in the city's residential areas.”
Ukraine’s interior minister Anton Gerashchenko posted images of the explosions on Telegram, suggesting they were watching closely. “Some sources report that this morning planes based on Engels and Ryazan airfields were scheduled to bomb Ukrainian energy infrastructure yet again,” Gerashchenko wrote Monday morning.
Other officials mused that Russia’s compounding losses are Ukraine’s gain. “The Earth is round—discovery made by Galileo. Astronomy was not studied in Kremlin, giving preference to court astrologers,” Volodymr Zelensky advisor Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Telegram Monday. “If it was, they would know: if something is launched into other countries’ airspace, sooner or later unknown flying objects will return to departure point.”
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President Nayib Bukele at the bicentennial of El Salvador’s independence. (photo: AFP)
When you’re infected by Pegasus, spies effectively hold a clone of your phone – we’re fighting back
This may read like an eerie movie scene, but there are many Central American journalists who have lived it for real. The suspicion you’re being followed, ditching your phone before meetings, using encrypted messaging and email apps, speaking in code, never publishing your live location – these are ordinary routines for many in my profession.
I wouldn’t know until more than a year later what my source really meant. My colleagues weren’t just being trailed as they investigated that story. They, and at least 18 other members of El Faro – including me – had been the repeated targets of a weapons-grade espionage software called Pegasus. Pegasus is the gleaming toy of the Israel-based spyware firm NSO Group. Forensic analysis by the Citizen Lab and others found that Pegasus attacks in El Salvador started in June 2020 and continued until November 2021. In all, 35 journalists and members of civil society were spied on with this tool.
When you’re infected by Pegasus, spies effectively hold a clone of your phone. They can see everything, from your personal pictures and texts to your purchases and your selection and use of apps. When the spying was discovered I had to take measures that included exiting my family group chat and deleting my banking apps.
For journalists, this means spies can see every chat and phone call with our sources. I was hacked while I pursued and published private videos of two brothers of President Nayib Bukele negotiating over El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law with foreign businessmen before it came into effect. My colleagues Gabriela Cáceres and Carlos Martínez were hacked as they continued to reveal more details about the government’s dealing with gangs and a thwarted criminal investigation about it. I could go on and on.
Journalism has become even harder after the attacks. When news of the hacking broke, a few sources jokingly answered our calls by greeting the good people who might be listening. But many more picked up the phone only to say we should stop calling them, and most simply didn’t respond at all. In one instance, a source told me that he now understood why his wife had been fired from her government position. I felt horrible. Guilty. Powerless.
That’s how Pegasus makes you feel above all: powerless. We believe the infections in El Faro happened through a “zero-click exploit”, meaning we didn’t even click on a phony link to open a door for the spies. They just broke in. Change your number, get a new device – they’ll just break in there, too.
And yet we refused to be powerless. We told our story to news outlets all over the world. In El Salvador, we held press conferences, went on TV and filed a case before the attorney general’s office. None of this brought any kind of accountability for the illegal spying. So, represented by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, 14 of my colleagues at El Faro and I have decided to sue NSO Group.
I can assure you we’re not in this for the money: if we wanted to be rich, we wouldn’t be independent journalists. We’re doing this as a progression of our everyday work in El Salvador to expose official wrongdoing. We’re doing this in the United States because we’ve exhausted all legal avenues in El Salvador’s co-opted institutions.
And we’re doing this not just for us. In April, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz assembled a list of more than 450 law-abiding men and women around the world whose devices had been hacked by NSO Group’s Pegasus. Many of them are not in countries or positions where they can sue.
But someone has to. NSO executives shouldn’t be able to wash their hands as their tools are used to persecute journalists. In a very real sense, NSO set the hounds on us. And now we’re fighting back.
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Former President Donald Trump speaks during an event at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida. (photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Republicans need to "decide whether they're going to break from him and return to some semblance of reasonableness, or continue to lean into the extremism" Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday
But Swalwell wasn’t alone. A number of Democrats spoke out over the weekend against the former president’s complete disregard for democracy and bashed Republicans for their refusal to condemn him. Trump’s post came after Elon Musk leaked alleged documents related to Twitter’s internal debate on how to handle tweets about the information about Hunter Biden’s laptop in light of of Twitter’s policy on the distribution of hacked and stolen materials.
“The Republicans are going to have to work out their issues with the former president and decide whether they’re going to break from him and return to some semblance of reasonableness, or continue to lean into the extremism, not just of Trump but of Trump-ism,” incoming Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Sunday on ABC’s This Week.
Swalwell also noted in a separate tweet the GOP’s hypocrisy in standing behind Trump. The representative pointed out that Republican Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) once accused then-president Barack Obama of “shredding” the Constitution in 2013. “Every congressional reporter should demand responses from congressional Republicans about Donald Trump’s call for the Constitution to be terminated … how many of them called themselves ‘Constitutional conservatives’ during the Obama years???” Swalwell wrote in a tweet late Saturday.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) pointed out the absolute illogic of Trump’s demands. “Donald Trump wants to suspend the Constitution in the name of protecting the Constitution, just like he perpetrated election fraud in the name of preventing election fraud,” Torres tweeted.
“January 6 was Donald Trump’s attempt at terminating the US Constitution. He’s a repeat offender,” Torres said in a different tweet.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said that Trump “openly declared himself an enemy of the Constitution” by declaring himself the winner of 2020’s election. “Trump’s words and actions are well beyond the bounds of acceptable political discourse, they stoke hatred and political violence, and they are dangerous,” Beyer said in a statement. Beyer also mentioned that Trump’s statement came mere “days after he hosted men who praise Hitler and the Nazis for dinner.”
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Immigrants gather with their belongings outside St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Wednesday Sept. 14, 2022, in Edgartown, Mass., on Martha’s Vineyard. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew two planes of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, escalating a tactic by Republican governors to draw attention to what they consider to be the Biden administration’s failed border policies. (photo: Ray Ewing/Vineyard Gazette/AP)
Florida Immigrant Coalition, Americans for Immigrant Justice and Hope CommUnity Center filed the lawsuit against DeSantis and Florida Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue, arguing that they were “infringing upon the federal government’s immigration system by creating a separate, parallel immigration system.”
The immigrant rights groups specifically asked the court to strike down the section of Florida’s 2022 appropriations act that devoted $12 million toward transporting “unauthorized aliens” out of the state.
DeSantis sent about 50 migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in mid-September, following similar efforts by Republican governors in southern border states to bus migrants to Democrat-led northern cities in protest of President Biden’s border policies.
Thursday’s lawsuit claims that DeSantis’s effort is unconstitutional because it violates the Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal laws take precedence over state laws, by attempting to “supplant federal immigration law with state policy.”
In particular, the lawsuit points to what it characterizes as the state’s “incoherent definition” of the term “unauthorized alien,” which it argues does not match up with federal immigration law.
The Florida-based groups also accused DeSantis of violating the 14th Amendment by “targeting people of color born primarily in Latin American and Caribbean countries to determine their immigration status.”
The migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard previously filed their own class-action lawsuit against DeSantis and several other members of his administration over the stunt, claiming they were deceived into getting on the flights with promises of aid and jobs.
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Police at a crime scene (photo: Goktay Koraltan/BBC)
In Port-au-Prince you cannot see the boundaries, but you must know where they are. Your life may depend on it. Competing gangs are carving up the Haitian capital, kidnapping, raping, and killing at will. They demarcate their territory in blood. Cross from one gang's turf to another, and you may not make it back.
Armed groups control - and terrorise - at least 60% of the capital and its surroundings, according to Haitian human rights groups. They encircle the city, controlling roads in and out. And the UN says the gangs killed almost 1,000 people here between January and June of this year.
This report contains content which some readers may find upsetting, including sexual violence
Port-au-Prince is nestled between green hillsides and the blue waters of the Caribbean. It is blanketed by heat and neglect. The rubbish is knee-deep in places - a putrid monument to a crumbling state. There is no head of state (the last one was killed in office), no functioning parliament (gangs control the area around it) and the US-backed prime minister, Ariel Henry, is unelected and deeply unpopular.
In effect the state is missing in action, as the people suffer overlapping crises. Almost half the population - 4.7 million Haitians - are facing acute hunger. In the capital around 20,000 people are facing famine-like conditions, according to the UN. This is a first for the Americas. Cholera has made a deadly comeback. But armed gangs are the greatest plague.
They set the clock here. Morning rush hour - between 06:00 and 09:00 - is peak kidnapping time. Many are snatched from the streets on their way to work. Others are targeted in the evening rush hour - from 15:00 to 18:00.
About 50 of the staff at our downtown hotel live in because it's too dangerous for them to go home. Few here go out after dark. The manager says he never leaves the building.
Kidnapping is a growth industry. There were 1,107 reported cases between January and October of this year, according to the UN. For some gangs it's a major income stream. Ransoms can run from $200 (£164) to $1m (£819,740). Most victims come back alive - if the ransom is paid - but they are made to suffer.
"Men are beaten and burned with materials like melted plastic," says Gedeon Jean, of Haiti's Centre for Analysis and Research in Human Rights. "Women and girls are subject to gang rape. This situation spurs relatives to find money to pay the ransom. Sometimes kidnappers call the relatives so they can hear the rape being carried out on the phone."
Morning in Delmas
We travel around by armoured car. Normally that's reserved for frontlines in warzones like Ukraine, but it's necessary in Port-au-Prince to ward off kidnappers. It is a protection that many here can't afford. It's the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, prone to both natural and political disasters.
Kidnappers belong to competing gangs - which are mainly grouped into two large coalitions - G9 and G-Pep.
Driving to an early morning appointment in late November, we come across a crime scene in the middle-class suburb of Delmas 83. Bullet casings litter the pavement, glinting in the sunlight, and a man lies dead in a back alley, face down in a pool of blood.
A grey 4x4 pickup truck has veered into a wall, one side riddled with holes. An AK-47 lies on the ground beside it. Heavily armed police surround the pickup, some with faces covered and weapons drawn. Onlookers cluster together on the path. If they have questions, they don't ask them. When you live in the shadow of the gangs, it pays to be silent.
The police tell us they were involved in a shoot-out with a group of kidnappers, out early hoping to snatch their next victim. The gang fled on foot, one of them trailing blood. The suspected kidnapper was tracked to the alley, where he was killed.
"There was a battle between an officer and the bad guys. One of them died," says a police veteran of 27 years, who didn't want to be named.
He says the situation in the capital has never been worse. I asked if the gangs were unstoppable. "We stopped them. Today," he replies.
Across town that same morning Francois Sinclair, a 42-year-old businessman, heard a burst of gunfire as he was struck in traffic. He saw armed men holding up the two cars in front of him, so asked his driver to turn around. But as they tried to get away, they were spotted.
"Out of nowhere I was shot inside my own car, and there was blood everywhere," he tells us, sitting up on a trolley in a trauma hospital run by Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
"I could have been shot in the head," he says, "and there were other people in the car too." There's a bandage on his arm, where a bullet went straight through.
I ask if he has ever thought about leaving the country to escape the violence. "Ten thousand times," he replies. "I couldn't even call my mother to tell her what happened [to me] because she is getting old. The way things are here, it's better to leave if you can."
That's a refrain we hear again and again, but for most Haitians, there's nowhere to go.
The wards of the MSF hospital are full of gunshot victims, many hit by stray bullets. Claudette, who has a freshly bandaged stump in place of her left leg, tells me that she can never marry now that she is disabled. Lying nearby is 15-year-old Lelianne, who is doing a crossword puzzle to pass the time. She was shot in the stomach.
"My mom and I went out to get something to eat," she says. "While we were ordering I felt something. That's when I fell and screamed in agony. I didn't expect to survive. I usually hear gunshots further away from my house. On that day they drove closer."
Even Haiti's last serving president wasn't safe in his own home. Jovenel Moise was killed by gunmen in July of 2021. Police blamed Colombian mercenaries, about 20 of whom were arrested. But more than a year later, no-one has been tried here for pulling the trigger or ordering the assassination. Human rights campaigners say four judges have come and gone from the case. It's now in the hands of a fifth.
The killing of the president created a power vacuum which gangs have been competing to fill - with help from their friends.
Experts say that armed groups have ties to corrupt political figures - in power and in the opposition. They supply the gangs with weapons, or finance, or political protection. In return the gangs do their dirty work, generating fear, support, or instability, as required.
Wealthy businesspeople also have links to the gangs.
"There have always been relationships between politicians and some gangs, located mainly in poor neighbourhoods with high electorates. But since the election in 2011 those relationships have become institutionalised," says James Boyard, a security expert, and professor of international relations at the State University of Haiti. "They [the gangs] are used as subcontractors to create political violence."
Rights campaigners say there are about 200 armed groups across the country, more than half of them in the capital.
If a gang member is arrested, a phone call from their backers can get them released without delay - and with their guns. Human rights activists say there's plenty of crime, but no punishment.
"There are no prosecutions," says Marie Rosy Auguste Ducena, of Haiti's National Human Rights Defence Network (RNDDH). "Judges don't want to work on these cases. They are paid off by the gangs. And some police are like a support system for the gangs, giving them armoured cars and tear gas."
Other officers are gang members, says rights activist Gedeon Jean. "We know that there are at least two serving or former policemen, in every gang. We know cars with police licence plates are used for kidnappings. Whether the police as an institution is involved, we don't know."
Some current and former police officers actually have their own gang, called Baz Pilate. Rights campaigners say it controls part of the main street in downtown Port-au-Prince.
Police collusion isn't a mystery. Officers can earn as little as $300 a month, and some live in gang-held neighbourhoods. For them it may be a matter of survival, not choice.
A husband's story
What's happening here - about two hours flying time from Miami - goes well beyond mere violence. It's as if the gangs of Port-au-Prince are engaged in a brutality contest, and anyone in this city of around one million souls can become a victim.
A slender man in his 30s - who has no gang affiliations - comes to tell us what he and his wife endured a few months ago. His neighbourhood is controlled by a gang, whose rivals came on a killing spree. For his safety we are not naming the area, or the armed group involved.
When he initially starts to speak, he carries on for 13 minutes without stopping - as if he cannot hold in his words or his anguish.
"I told myself the shots are too close to us, and we should try to leave," he says. "But they were already storming the neighbourhood. I went back inside the house with my wife. I was so scared I was shaking. I did not know what to do. They mostly kill young men. My wife hid me under the bed and covered me with a pile of clothes. My nephew was hiding in the wardrobe."
Soon men entered the house, hitting his wife, and demanding information on local gang members. When his nephew tried to run, they shot and killed him. The husband remained in hiding, and in torment.
"I wanted to run away. I wanted to cry out. What hurts me the most is that when I was under the bed, I couldn't see but I could hear those men raping my wife. They were raping her, and I was under the bed, and I could say nothing."
Afterwards their house was burned, and he and his wife fled in different directions. They are still living apart, staying with friends and relatives, but he hopes they can set up home again with their young child.
What happened "is a scar that affects the body and the soul". His wife is now pregnant, and they do not know if he is the father, or if it is one of the attackers. Either way, he says he will accept the child and give it his name.
"What I endured was nothing," he says. "There is a lady who had only one child. They cut his throat in front of her. The young man who was not in a gang."
Husband and wife have been robbed of almost everything, including their love for their country. "Haiti is erased from our hearts," he says. "Any chance we get, we will leave."
At that he breaks down, his chest heaving as he weeps.
The testimonies I have gathered here are among the worst I have ever heard in more than 30 years as a foreign correspondent, reporting from over 80 countries. And it feels like we have barely scratched the surface.
For the gangs of Port-au-Prince, there are no limits.
In just a few days, I met three victims of gang rape - the youngest only 16. She and a relative were raped by the same attackers, who threated afterwards to burn them alive inside their house. The other woman was six months pregnant at the time she was attacked. As she was being set upon, her husband was led away to his death. Months on she has not been able to find his body.
Increasingly, rape is used as a weapon by the gangs. They target women and girls living in areas controlled by their rivals. During a turf war in July in Haiti's poorest district, the sprawling Cité Soleil. Campaigners say more than 300 people were murdered - most of the bodies were charred - and at least 50 women and girls were gang raped.
Haiti's National Human Rights Defence Network (RNDDH), which has documented the rapes in Cite Soleil, says many survivors "regret being alive". Twenty of them were raped in front of their children. Six saw their spouses being killed before being gang raped.
Most of Cité Soleil is controlled by the most powerful gang federation in Port-au-Prince - the G9 family and allies. Local sources say it had close ties to the assassinated president and his ruling party, and its speciality is extortion.
G9 blockaded the main fuel terminal in the city in September, paralysing the country for almost two months, and triggering a humanitarian crisis.
Its leader is a former police officer called Jimmy Cherizier, nicknamed "Barbecue", who occasionally holds press conferences. We requested an interview through intermediaries, but had no response. He may be less talkative these days because he's recently been put under sanctions by the UN Security Council, accused of threatening the peace and stability of Haiti.
The United States and Canada recently sanctioned two Haitian politicians, including the sitting president of the Senate, Joseph Lambert, for allegedly collaborating with the gangs.
Sources here say the sanctions are having some impact because politicians who use the gangs now want to lie low.
'Criminals have taken a country hostage'
When Jean Simson Desanclos reached the deserted street at the edge of a gang-ridden suburb, he found nothing of his family except the burnt-out shell of the family's Black Suzuki. The charred remains of his wife and two daughters had already been taken to the morgue.
Josette Fils Desanclos, 56, was taking one daughter Sarhadjie, 24, to university, and the other, Sherwood Sondje, shopping for her birthday. She was about to turn 29. Both girls had studied law like their father. They were his "princesses".
"On 20 August I lost everything," he says. "And it wasn't just my family. In all, eight people were killed that day. It was a massacre."
Mr Desanclos believes his wife and daughters resisted a kidnap attempt and were shot by a notorious gang called the 400 Mawazo, who were expanding their territory. "I point my fingers at them," he says. The killings happened on the outskirts of an area called Croix des Bouquet, which was already under the gang's control.
Mr Desanclos, who is softly spoken and smartly dressed, is a lawyer and human rights activist. He is now a man bereft - longing for the voices he will never hear again.
"You are always waiting for a call from your child telling you, 'Dad this' or 'Dad that'. I lost the love of my life and the two children we raised in this difficult country. It's like you are a multi-millionaire and suddenly, you are poor."
Despite the risk to himself, he is seeking justice for his wife and daughters. "Family is a sacred thing. Not pursuing justice would be betraying them," he says. "My daughters know their father is a fighter, who never abandons people, much less his own family. The risk is enormous, but what more can I lose now?"
He wants the world to understand one thing about the Haiti of today - that the gangs have free rein.
"Criminals have taken a country hostage," he says. "They make their own laws. They kill. They rape. They destroy. I would like my daughters to be the last sacrifice, the last young women killed."
He speaks with dignity, and conviction, but knows his wish may not be granted.
In Haiti, it is the gangs that function, rather than the state. Prime Minister Ariel Henry cannot even reach his own office because armed groups control the area. We made several requests for an interview with him, but these were declined.
Haiti's government - such as it is - has issued "a distress call" for an international force to help restore order.
There's talk at the United Nations about the need for a non-UN armed force, but no-one seems in a hurry to lead it, or even to take part.
Foreign interventions have a bad name, and a bad history here. The last UN mission is remembered for allegations of sexual abuse, and for bringing cholera to Haiti, via UN peacekeepers from Nepal. The epidemic killed around 10,000 people.
There are mixed views here on the idea of foreign boots on the ground. There's support from some in business - who have used armed groups but now want them reined in - and from those trapped in gang-controlled areas. There's opposition from civil society leaders who say Haiti needs to go it alone.
While the international community debates and demurs, it is massacres as usual for the gangs.
Local sources say armed groups are brutally expanding their territory because elections are overdue. When politicians come looking for votes - in gang held areas - they have to pay off the gunmen.
The latest atrocity was at the northern entrance to Port-au-Prince on 30 November. According to local media reports, some in the area spotted armed men - from an emerging gang - trying to gain a foothold, and informed police.
The gunmen retaliated at night, killing at least 11 people. Some of the bodies were set alight.
The boundaries here are once again being redrawn in blood. Those living in the city need to update their mental map, as one more area is turning from green to red.
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Agroforestry. (photo: Robert_Ford/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
While it’s starting to gain wider appeal, agroforestry is not new and was one of the earliest forms of agriculture, with Indigenous people practicing these systems as part of their traditional ecological knowledge for generations.
Currently, agroforestry and its ability to sequester carbon has made the practice at the forefront of sustainable agricultural systems that can not only help the world reach climate goals, but also diversify income for farmers, as well as provide opportunities for food security, soil protection, wildlife habitats, and community empowerment.
So how exactly does it work? First, some quick facts, before we break it down.
Quick Facts
- Agroforestry methods protect soil, animals, crops, and homes from extreme weather, while also improving water quality.
- It can be good for local economies by producing useful products such as: food, fiber, wood, floral and medicinal botanical products.
- It improves pollinator habitat. Plant pollination by animals is integral for healthy ecosystems with 85% of the world’s flowering plants dependent on it for pollination.
- It’s a good mitigator for climate change as these methods help sequester greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmental Benefits of Agroforestry
According to the World Resources Institute, the U.S. alone could use agroforestry to remove around 156 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, and sequester 6 gigatons of carbon a year globally. But this isn’t all that agroforestry does for the environment, nor is it just one system.
Agroforestry actually involves five different systems, some of which carry varying degrees of intensity. These methods are often combined to protect soil, livestock, crops and homes from extreme weather, while improving water quality and soil quality, and nutrient density in food.
Those systems are:
Windbreaks
These involve single or multiple rows of trees or shrubs that are expressly used for environmental purposes, like controlling wind erosion and protecting wind-sensitive crops, particularly during increased droughts or other extreme weather. These also help to create microclimates to help abate increased temperatures. They also control pests by creating more of a wildlife habitat.
Riparian Buffer
These are trees, shrubs and vegetation that are established and managed adjacent to streams, lakes, wetlands and ponds. This helps reduce pollution from adjacent land uses that through surface run-offs end up in the water supply, which in turn enhances aquatic habitats, increases the storage of plant biomass and soils, as well as stabilizing streambanks. Also during extreme weather events these help to reduce flooding and soil erosion.
Alley Cropping
Sometimes also referred to as “intercropping,” alley cropping involves planting rows of trees with a companion crop in the middle. The trees help reduce surface water runoff and erosion, which leads to improved soil health and fertility. They also minimize wind erosion. Depending on crops, it can create microclimates that bring about higher yields and better wildlife habitats.
Multiple crops that can be planted in these conditions can also bring about more opportunities for farms to create income that isn’t always provided with mono-cropping.
Silvopasture
This involves the intentional combination of trees, foraging plants, and livestock. Besides being more profitable, while waiting for nut or timber harvests, nitrogen-fixing forage species and animal manure help improve soil and tree nutrition. Grazing also controls competing vegetation and reduces fire hazards. Both silvopasture and windbreaks can also provide much-needed relief for livestock in fluctuating temperatures.
Silvopasture also has the ability to help reduce methane emissions from cows.
Forest Farming
This is the cultivation of edible, medicinal or decorative crops beneath the protection of native or planted tree canopies, and are managed for wood and understory crop production. The understory is the underlying layer of vegetation beneath the shade of the trees (which are called the overstory) that creates a special microclimate that could increase soil quality and yields. Some examples of crops that can be planted can be herbs for essential oils (lemongrass, patchouli), spices (cinnamon, ginger, turmeric), fruits (berries), root vegetables (yams), herbs (oregano, basil), mushrooms (culinary and medicinal), certain nuts (beechnut, hazelnut), and other vegetation like ferns, moss, and ornamental plants.
The shade that the trees provide for the understory affects air temperature, humidity, soil temperature, soil moisture and wind movement which combine to conserve moisture in plants, reduce water usage, protect crops from temperature fluctuations, and suppress invasive weeds.
Agroforestry and Water
Agroforestry improves water retention and availability for farmers. Trees and shrubs have the capability to absorb water through the leaves, then send it into the air as oxygen and water vapor, while also pushing the water down through their roots, to filter out anything harmful as it goes back into the groundwater.
Agroforestry can also help work against species extinction by reducing flooding and soil erosion, which causes eutrophication of lakes and rivers. Eutrophication is when the environment becomes too enriched with nutrients, it increases the amount of plant and algae growth, which results in algal blooms, dead zones where water lacks oxygen, and fish kills.
Agroforestry and Natural Pest Control
Growing evidence supports that the usage of chemical pesticides not only harms the health of humans and soil, but they can kill wild animals, and disrupt their hormones which affects their behavior and ability to procreate. This can happen directly or indirectly through pesticide drift, secondary poisoning, groundwater contamination and runoff into local bodies of water.
While the USDA claims that certain agroforestry methods can block pesticide drift from contaminating waterways, and killing off pollinators, agroforestry itself can provide natural pest control to diminish the need for chemicals in the first place.
With methods like alley cropping, it reduces crop visibility, interferes with pest movement, which bars against infestation;’ it also uses plant diversity to dilute pest hosts, and creating a more favorable habitat to beneficial insects, all of which benefits the local ecosystem.
Agroforestry and Wildlife
Agroforestry systems can create a thriving habitat for a lot of wildlife, much of which has been displaced over the years due to practices rooted in colonialism which involved heavy deforestation and fragmentation of natural habitats to make room for conventional agriculture practices like monocropping and other kinds of modern development.
By introducing bees into agroforestry systems, they do the necessary job of pollination for a lot of crops and can help vastly increase crop yields. These habitats also attract other seed-dispersing animals like birds, or other creatures like moles and ants that help aerate the soil, which helps allow plants to take root and consume the most beneficial amount of nutrients to grow abundantly. It also helps attract predators who can take care of seed-eating mice or other pests.
Economic Benefits of Agroforestry
Small farmers seem to receive the most profound impact from the use of agroforestry. Better soil quality could help them increase their yields bringing about food security and more income. Also planting diversified crops around trees used for wood can allow for more income as well while waiting for the right time to harvest the wood.
In the U.S., according to a published study by the USDA’s National Agroforestry Center, still there are some blockages to success due to lack of land access and long-term leases. There was also a need for more information and access to markets and marketing for products.
Hawai’i’s Ulu Cooperative is a successful example of an ulu (breadfruit) agroforestry restoration project, which has grown to a large collective of farmers, and an online marketplace for a variety of products bringing about more local revenue instead of heavily relying on imported food.
In parts of South America, Inga Alley Cropping has taken over for slash-and-burn subsistence farming, which involves farmers cutting down and burning a patch of rainforest to have an area of fertile soil to grow food. The soil’s fertility doesn’t last long with maybe can grow a year’s worth of good crops, but there is an inability to grow anything down the line, which would propel the farmers to burn down more sections of rainforest.
Inga Alley Cropping, was introduced by ecologist Mike Hands after years of research to stop rainforest destruction and provide more sustainable solutions for farmers.
The Inga species is a nitrogen-fixing tree that can maintain soil fertility annually and doesn’t need fertilizing. The trees are pruned at chest height, and their leaves stripped to use as mulch protecting the soil from weed growth. The larger branches are used by families for firewood to cook. The crops are then planted and the Inga trees recover, providing crop protection from the sun. Eventually, the system provides a reliable crop every year.
The Inga alley cropping has created jobs, empowered women, kept resiliency through drought, and helped stop the need for farmers to feel like they had to migrate to the US to provide for their families.
Policy and Funding
More interest in agroforestry seemed to be on the rise in the 1970s due to the deteriorating economy in the developing world, deforestation, land degradation and population pressures. This, coupled with an expanding interest in agriculture in terms of the environment has begun to lead to policy changes and generous funding opportunities across the globe.
More than 60 countries currently recognize agroforestry as one of the primary tools to mitigate climate change.
In 2014, India became the first nation in the world to launch a National Agroforestry policy, which invested what would be around $33 million USD to mitigate climate change and improve agricultural livelihoods by addressing increased demand for timber, food, fuel, fertilizer and more, while also creating jobs and more income.
From 2015 to 2019, there has been a 2% increase in forest and tree cover, 1.8% of which is outside of forests, and trees grown outside are producing more than 70% of the countries timer requirement reducing pressure on forests, said Dr. Javed Rizvi, Principal Scientist of Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry.
The policy also focuses on small farmers, which comprise about 80% of India’s farming community. Small farmers seem to receive the most profound impact from the use of agroforestry. Better soil quality helps increase yields bringing about food security and more income. Also planting diversified crops around trees used to wood, can allow for more income as well.
In 2019, Nepal became the second country in the world to adopt an agroforestry policy wanting to follow in India’s footsteps.
Also, announced during the UN Climate Summit in October, a group of NGOs secured funding for a project called Grand African Savannah Green Up whose goal is to capture 20 billion tons of CO2 with agroforestry systems by 2050 across Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Most recently in the US, the USDA also allocated $60 million to the Nature Conservancy and multiple partners to fund a five-year project to advance agroforestry in 37 states across the eastern US and Hawai’i.
Food Sovereignty and Food Security
Through the histories of many cultures, colonization upended Indigenous foodways, trading deeply spiritual traditions, identities, and intimate knowledge of sustainable land stewardship, for profit.
Now as modern food systems are collapsing, and there are more governments acknowledging the importance of Indigenous land knowledge and investing in those practices, those who have been practicing them in spite of it all have seen it as an act of resistance.
In Costa Rica, the Indigenous Bribri women maintain their ancestral agroforestry practice called “fincas integrales” in the midst of Talamanca, which has been one of the country’s seats of monoculture since the 1500s.
The Bribri are one of the few matrilineal societies in the world, where land is handed down from mother to daughter, and whose many plantings of diverse crops are making them nearly self-sufficient. One of their main crops is cocoa, which is central to cultural practices.
“Indigenous Bribri fields are the opposite of monoculture: their presence is a political act,” Kattia Acuña, a professor of sociology at the University of Costa Rica told Mongabay.
Agroforestry and Women’s Empowerment
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, female formers in lower-income countries represent 43% of the agricultural labor force, but represent 13% of landowners due to less access to credit, agricultural inputs and extension services, and that productivity could increase if they had the same access to men.
To some, agroforestry could be the door to more equality and has already been working with women around the world. Programs in Kenya, Indonesia, and India are run and led by women.
In Ratmate Village in Nepal, where men usually go out of town to work, women farmers in the district formed a cooperative and turned to agroforestry to sustain themselves more. With the help of an NGO, they began raising livestock (goats and bison), and growing a variety of fruits and vegetables.
In Rwanda, a women-led cooperative called Jyambere Munyarwanda recently planted over 20,600 trees for agroforestry purposes.
Urban Food Forests and Edible Landscapes
In cities and other more densely populated areas, urban food forests are starting to pop up as an answer to food security and access to healthy nutritious food, while also improving the environment.
These food forests show up in parks, schoolyards, and other non-traditional areas, and are taking place all over the world.
Here are a few:
Located in Atlanta, in what has been labeled a food desert, the city wanted to change it, believing 85% of its citizens should live within a half mile of fresh, healthy food. This food forest produces a diversity of nuts, fruits, vegetables, and herbs, while also teaching sustainable food production through workshops and volunteer work.
In Budapest, Hungary, Cargonomia is a community cooperative that turned a dried-out wetland into a food forest, then by using bike messengers, deliver the food to residents in the area. It’s maintained by a group of volunteers.
In New York City, to combat the shortage to access fresh food and legality issues of picking food on New York’s public land, Swales Founder and artist, Mary Mattingly started a food forest on a barge, creating a floating food forest that she would dock at ports all around the city to provide free access to food.
In Mexico City, one of the country’s most densely populated cities, this group has an edible forest, seed bank, workshop programs about urban agriculture projects, and school programs to educate children about sustainable food.
Other Agroforestry Organizations
World Agroforestry – The International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRA)
The World Agroforestry ICRA is an international center for the science and development of agroforestry methods that does research to provide to governments, farmers and other agencies the ability to use trees to make livelihoods more sustainable. Their research spans the Global South in 44 countries.
National Agroforestry Center-United States Department of Agriculture
Starting in 1992 in the U.S. Farm Bill, the goal of this center is to provide leadership through research and science-based outreach, while working with farmers, ranchers, forest landowners, Tribes and other communities to accelerate adoption of agroforestry practices throughout the states.
This nonprofit focuses on working with farmers and scientists to provide the foundation for widespread agroforestry adoption in the Midwest United States.
This nonprofit’s website is a wealth of educational materials and design tools for sustainable agroforestry systems. It contains both free materials and links to books on the subject, as well as a blog called The Overstory that has several contributors.
An exhaustive list of other programs around the world can be on their website here.
Takeaway
While a lot of food systems have been collapsing and contributing to environmental catastrophes, many all over the world are looking to and investing in the ancient systems of agroforestry to create sustainable solutions not just for our environment, but for the livelihoods of farmers as well as for providing more access to nutritional, healthy food to local communities.
To read more of EcoWatch’s agroforestry coverage, go here.
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