The Haitian National Team Showed Us What Haiti Needs: Competence
Against all odds, Haiti’s national soccer team has qualified for the World Cup. When the final whistle blew, Haitian communities erupted across the globe. In Miami, car horns and konpa took over Little Haiti. In Montreal, the blue and red flags filled crowded streets. In Brooklyn, people cried and danced as if something long lost had returned. Even in Port-au-Prince, where insecurity has taken so much from our people, neighborhoods dared to celebrate. For a moment, we remembered what pride feels like.
We should celebrate. We deserve that moment of joy.
Still, the team’s achievement exposes a difficult truth. The Haitian state did not spend one dollar to support its national team. Because insecurity made it impossible to host matches at home, the players trained abroad, traveled abroad, and prepared abroad. Their success belongs to their discipline, their coaches, and the global Haitian community that has carried the country for decades. They succeeded without the support of a functioning state. And for that, we should be ashamed.
While we celebrated excellence, the transitional authorities were engaged in a political struggle to replace an ineffective prime minister with another ineffective prime minister. Their mandate ends in February, yet they show no urgency and no vision. Haiti is collapsing, and they remain focused on internal disputes.
The contrast captures the reality of Haiti today. Haitian talent continues to rise, while Haitian leadership remains trapped in persistent incompetence.