Amid a rapidly worsening security and logistics crisis in one of Haiti’s most critical economic corridors, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the West (CCIO) has issued an urgent appeal, warning that continued inaction will carry catastrophic human and economic consequences for the entire country.
The crisis is unfolding across a strategic area bounded by National Road 1, Route 9, and the perimeter of Toussaint Louverture International Airport – a hub that connects key industrial operations, trade routes, and the country’s primary international gateway. The CCIO’s warning comes after three of Haiti’s largest private companies – Brasserie de la Couronne, Barbancourt Distillery, and Brasserie Séjourné – issued their own joint statement highlighting the growing threat to their operations in the region.
Beyond the immediate risks to industrial sites, warehouses, and critical transport infrastructure, the CCIO emphasizes that the crisis is first and foremost a humanitarian emergency. Thousands of workers, their families, and entire local communities in the area now live in daily fear, facing constant uncertainty over their safety and livelihoods. Every job placed at risk in this strategic zone pushes another vulnerable household deeper into precarity, the chamber notes. When operations are halted, working parents lose the income they need to feed their children, cover school fees, pay for medical care, and maintain even the most basic stability in a country already grappling with systemic crisis.
The impact of continued instability in this zone extends far beyond the private sector, affecting every layer of Haitian society. As a core economic artery for the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, a full collapse of activity here would disrupt national supply chains, cut critical public revenue, eliminate thousands of formal jobs, and fray already fragile social cohesion across the country.
The CCIO stresses that no credible plan to stabilize the Haitian capital can succeed without prioritizing the security and restoration of this vital corridor. Allowing a permanent lawless zone to take root just steps from the country’s main international airport would not only inflict severe long-term damage on Haiti’s already struggling national economy, but also condemn tens of thousands of local citizens to even harsher living conditions.
To address the emergency, the CCIO has laid out four clear demands for Haitian authorities. First, it calls for immediate security interventions to protect workers, residents, and the broader local population. Second, it urges authorities to prioritize urgent rehabilitation of damaged critical road infrastructure – a prerequisite for any effective law enforcement deployment in the area. Third, it calls for measures to protect ongoing economic activity, preserve existing jobs, and prevent a further escalation of social vulnerability across the region. Finally, the chamber demands the establishment of a formal public-private consultation framework to enable continuous monitoring of the crisis and the development of long-term sustainable solutions.
Reaffirming its commitment to collaborative problem-solving, the CCIO says it stands ready to contribute constructively to any technical or institutional initiative focused on protecting this strategic zone, upholding the dignity of affected families, and preventing what it warns could become a major humanitarian and economic catastrophe.