NEW YORK – In about two months’ time, the one year anniversary of a tragic earthquake and presidential assassination in Haiti will have passed, yet the state of the Caribbean nation appears to be worse, or as Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami describes: “As bad as it’s ever been.”

In a recent conversation with Crux Wenski – who has long been an advocate for and ally of the Haitian people both domestic and abroad – detailed his understanding of Haiti’s state of affairs, and how it has stalled a number of Church projects.

An “isolated” Port au Prince is at the heart of the problem. The three main roads out of the capital city are all blocked by gangs, forcing people to stay put where they are or they run the risk of being kidnapped, extorted, or even killed. Haitians also face a lack of available resources, including gas and food.

It’s bad enough that Cardinal Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes didn’t even test ground travel to get to Port au Prince to then fly out to Miami to visit Wenski. Instead, he took a private plane from Les Cayes to Port au Prince, which Wenski said “is the only way in and out of the capital.”

“The security situation is pretty desperate and it’s paralyzing the whole country,” Wenski said.

That paralysis includes Church projects that date back more than a decade. Wenski said reconstruction projects following the 2010 earthquake – that leveled Port au Prince and killed at least 220,000 people – are essentially “dead in the water” because gangs have blocked construction workers from getting to the sites. Also, local mafias controlling the ports have made it costly and difficult to even ship the material down there.

One project in particular that’s on hold is the building of a new major seminary in Haiti to replace the one destroyed by the earthquake. Wenski said property is secured and money raised, but construction is on hold because the site is controlled by gangs, “and because it’s on hold we risk losing some of the funding because people might want to redirect that money to other areas.”

The U.S. Bishops Conference, Haitian Church, and others cooperated on the project. The USCCB Partnership for Church Reconstruction (Proche) is supervising about 40 total reconstruction projects stemming from the 2010 earthquake, including churches and rectories.

A temporary seminary built by the Archdiocese of Miami is now in a zone controlled by gangs as well. Haitian clergy moved the seminarians to the college seminary a few miles away, but Wenski said it’s “only a matter of time until gang activity invades that area of the country” too.

The Archdiocese of Miami is also conducting a damage assessment of the damage in the aftermath of an earthquake that struck southwestern Haiti, mainly Les Cayes. Those efforts, Wenski said, have the same challenges. Although, he’s hopeful to have it done by the middle of the summer to know what needs to be rebuilt or repaired.

“The punch to do the rebuilding and the possibility of that rebuilding is pretty much contingent on what happens with the security situation,” Wenski said. “The Diocese of Jérémie, the Diocese of Les Cayes, Anse-á-Veau and Miragoâne, lost dozens of rural chapels, schools, rectories, clinics, and so they’re in a pretty dire situation there.”

Regardless of if and when the rebuilds and repairs take place, the question of how Haiti can move towards political and general societal stability remains. Wenski said the answer likely won’t come from the international community and will likely have to be a “Haitian solution,” though he doesn’t see that happening anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the Haitian government is another challenge. Prime Minister Ariel Henry took over after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July. However, Henry took over without any confirmation from a legislative body and therefore doesn’t have any legitimacy.

The constitutional period to put in place a transitional government in Haiti has also elapsed earlier this year, therefore what you have is an “illegitimate government that has no coherent plan to move the country towards an election,” Wenski said.

“It’s as bad as it’s ever been and that’s reflected in the increasing number of people that are trying to flee the country,” the archbishop noted. “It’s a sad situation. I tell the Haitians that Haiti would have no luck if it wasn’t for bad luck.”

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