As Haiti prepares to hold its long-awaited presidential and legislative elections later this year, a top regional official has sounded an urgent alarm over hidden ties between the country’s political actors and violent criminal gangs that could undermine the entire democratic process.
During a public press briefing this Thursday, Organization of American States Secretary General Albert Ramdin pulled back the curtain on an open secret in the country: “There is a certain collusion between the political world and the gangs. I am saying this clearly because everyone knows it, but no one is talking about it.”
Ramdin, who completed an official visit to Haiti in August to assess pre-election conditions, told reporters he had already raised the issue directly with Haitian national authorities. During those discussions, he pushed for the implementation of strict, transparent eligibility rules that would bar candidates tied to armed criminal organizations from appearing on election ballots. To date, however, he said the government has not provided any clear, actionable response to his proposal.
Ramdin added that a full accounting of the damage caused by these political-criminal links will not be possible until all participating candidates are vetted and their connections properly documented. Without robust guardrails in place, the credibility of the final election results will almost certainly be called into question, he warned.
For the OAS, resolving Haiti’s years-long political and humanitarian crisis is a top institutional priority. In his briefing, Ramdin pinpointed widespread, gang-fueled insecurity as the single biggest barrier to holding free, fair, and accessible elections. He also raised sharp questions about the performance of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF), the multinational security mission deployed to stabilize the country, noting that some nations that had previously pledged support to the mission have failed to follow through on their commitments.
“Holding elections depends on a favorable security climate,” Ramdin insisted, referencing the unrelenting wave of violence that has ravaged Haitian communities for the better part of a decade. Current official electoral timelines schedule the first round of presidential and legislative voting for December 13, 2026, with a second round set to follow on February 21, 2027.
The scale of the country’s security crisis underscores the gravity of Ramdin’s warning. Latest data from the United Nations shows that gang-related violence killed at least 3,050 people and injured another 1,401 across Haiti in just the first six months of 2026, a death toll that highlights how far security forces are from reasserting control over much of the country.