Judy: The nation of Haiti is in
free fall.
Just 600 miles off Florida's
coast, the country that is no
stranger to struggle is facing a
confluence of humanitarian,
security, and political crises.
Millions do not have enough
food.
Cholera is spreading.
Gang violence has reached
previously safe areas.
And the government appears
powerless to provide solutions.
Nick schifrin has our story, and
a warning -- some of the images
are disturbing.
Nick: In this port-au-prince
hospital run by doctors without
borders, the patients are
survivors of a country that has
collapsed.
The society like their legs are
fractured and they suffer the
wounds of war ravaging the
Haitian capital.
Or than a quarter are gunshot
victims, including this
teenager.
We are keeping him anonymous
from the gangs that shot him.
>> When I was looking at my
stomach, I saw a big hole here
and another here.
I didn't die because they gave
me care.
Nick: He is from
port-au-prince's biggest slum,
where residents try to survive
not just joking poverty but a
recent wave of intense violence.
He was filming this video of a
gang tearing down a when the
bullet hit.
[Gunshots]
>> We were in the middle of a
war.
You sleep, it is war, you wake
up, shots are fired.
What I'm trying to say is it was
the day for me to take a bullet,
but it is not only me.
I am not the only victim.
Nick: Violence escalated in July
when battles raged between rival
gangs for territory.
One led by a former police
officer.
They use excavators to raze each
other's neighborhoods.
In broad daylight, gang members
kidnap patients for ransom.
They toured government buildings
and set court documents on fire.
In mid-september, they are
holding hostage 70% of Haiti's
fuel.
They taunted authorities and
rallied supporters.
>> It is true or going to get
through into the soil terminal
when we are dead.
To the Haitian people, if it's
true we need to live as real
human beings and for other
nations to respect us, man your
barricades.
>> These are warlords, people
who have military training and
are a de facto force.
Nick: Gary is the founder of the
Haitian times, and
english-language newspaper.
Gary: They dictate we have
water, when we have fuel, when
people can go out.
We are basically watching a slow
motion coup d'état.
Haiti is a failed state right
now, not functioning.
Nick: Haitian society is
furious.
For months, demonstrators have
protested against insecurity and
the lack of food and gas.
As police looked on,
demonstrators even looted
humanitarian warehouses.
Now the violence and fuel
restrictions have exacerbated a
cholera outbreak.
This woman gave her son liquids
but it was too late for the rest
of her family.
>> I saw him getting worse so I
brought him here.
I learned my little sister had
died of cholera.
Nick: Where is the Haitian
government?
It has been 15 months since the
president was assassinated.
Hades caretaker prime minister
requested international troops
to keep the peace, that the
government is unable to provide.
Last week in New York, the
international community took a
first step to try to provide
stabilization.
For the first time in five
years, the un security council
passed a resolution on Haiti
that sanctioned gang leaders and
financial sponsors.
But a U.S. And Mexico resolution
for a troop deployment is on
hold.
Do you think it is a good idea
for the un security council to
authorize an international
military mission to Haiti?
>> What choices do we have?
It is not a good idea but it is
a series of bad ideas.
This mission, whatever form it
comes in, needs to address the
social inequalities.
These young men have been
marginalized and the society.
Nick: For every 10 -- >> For
every 10 young boys, it had
firearms and I was one of them.
Nick: This is a former gang
member turned peace promoter.
In his 30's, he disarmed himself
through a government program and
cofounded a community
organization that trains young
Haitians to resolve conflict
through dialogue.
He says the gangs are popular
because they are both the power
and the bank.
>> When 18-year-old enters an
armed gang, he is the one who
puts food and drinks on the
table.
And even pays the rent.
It is like having a job.
Nick: The teenager who was shot
sent us this video.
His neighborhood, no running
water and no school, but he has
nowhere else to go.
>> I hope for all of the bandits
to be killed or arrested and put
in prison.
Only then will the country work
properly.
Bandits are destroying the
country.
Nick: For more on this, I am
joined by Brian Nichols, the
assistance secretary of state
for western hemisphere affairs.
Thank you and welcome to the
newshour.
You lead an intra-agency
delegation to Haiti this month.
What did you see?
Brian: A Haiti suffering from
cholera, from intense security
challenges posed by gangs.
I saw a Haiti whose economy is
grinding to a standstill due to
a lack of fuel and a Haiti that
needs our help more than ever
and we are going to give that
help.
Nick: What does the U.S. Hope to
accomplish by the actions we saw
at the U.N. Last week
sanctioning gang members and
their financial sponsors?
Brian: The intention is not only
to go after gang members, but to
go after those who support and
fund them, who directs their
nefarious activities, wherever
they are.
Nick: A second resolution the
U.S. Is working on is to send an
international military force to
Haiti.
Why does the U.S. Support
another international force to
go to Haiti?
Brian: Our focus is on providing
the security the Haitian cabinet
and U.N. Secretary general have
asked for.
That would be a multinational
force with a substantial police
component that will provide
security to the Haitian people
and to give Haitian actors and
political figures the space to
reach an agreement on a way
forward, to organize elections.
To restore democracy.
Nick: Will there be U.S.
Personnel as part of that?
Brian: We are looking at how we
would support the mission.
Our focus is providing those
things where we have unique
skills and advantages, but we
need to do that in support of a
partner nation that will lead.
There are intensive talks going
on right now.
Nick: Journalists and historians
and Haiti have long said that
the U.S. Has never allowed Haiti
to make its own political
decisions.
Do you fear that sending this
force would make the same
mistakes as the past?
Brian: Given the cholera
outbreak, the lack of fuel, we
need to act, but that action
should open the space for
Haitians to come together around
the organizing of elections,
around the process toward
democracy, and to get the
country moving forward again.
Nick: Why is the U.S. Supporting
the prime minister?
Brian: Our stance is he is a
transitional figure.
I've met with him and every
conversation, he said he would
turn over to an electric
government.
Nick: There was controversy,
many have called him
illegitimate.
Do you believe he has earned the
right to transition Haiti to the
next up?
Brian: He is taking difficult
steps.
He has ended fuel subsidies and
Haiti, a controversial move, but
it means the government now has
money to dedicate to education,
health care, infra structure and
Haiti could those are actions
we've wanted to see for quite
some time.
The prime minister has taken
them and I respect him for that.
Nick: Earlier this year, you
said when we look at the history
of Haiti, it is replete with the
international community reaching
into Haitian politics and
picking winners and losers.
Our goal in terms of the U.S.
Government is to avoid that.
With your support for Henri, are
you picking winners and losers
even today?
Brian: We are not there to pick
who Haiti's leaders are.
But the government that is there
is led by Henri at the moment,
but he is a transitional figure
and it is up to Haitians to find
a way forward and we hope to
give them the means to do that.
Nick: On the humanitarian
situation, U.S. Aid is sitting
much needed supplies.
Can those supplies actually get
to the places that need the most
given the gangs's block of the
port.
Brian: We are working through
local partners, we were able to
deliver food for 6000 people, to
the epicenter of the cholera
outbreak in Haiti.
That does not change the fact
that the president of the gang
around the terminal is a serious
impediment to economic activity
in Haiti and the movement of
assistance.
I would advise them to exit the
terminal and let the Haitian
people go about their lives.
Nick: Brian Nichols, thank you
very muc.
Brian: Thank you for having me.