{"id":266408,"date":"2026-02-06T07:06:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=266408"},"modified":"2026-02-06T07:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:06:25","slug":"commentary-the-end-of-the-illusion-in-haiti-what-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-the-end-of-the-illusion-in-haiti-what-next\/","title":{"rendered":"COMMENTARY: The End of the Illusion in Haiti: What Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"antig-4099812190\" class=\"antig-ecab antig-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/discoverflow.co\/web\/antigua\" aria-label=\"ANU CVP Digital Broadband 1200x400_1\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1201\/h:401\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1201\/h:401\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 1201w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:300\/h:100\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:342\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:256\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" width=\"1201\" height=\"401\"   \/><\/a><\/div><div id=\"antig-746705840\" class=\"antig-before-content antig-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/medicalbenefitsscheme\" aria-label=\"PHOTO-2026-04-07-10-45-56\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1200\/h:400\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PHOTO-2026-04-07-10-45-56.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1200\/h:400\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PHOTO-2026-04-07-10-45-56.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:300\/h:100\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PHOTO-2026-04-07-10-45-56.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:341\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PHOTO-2026-04-07-10-45-56.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:256\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PHOTO-2026-04-07-10-45-56.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" width=\"1200\" height=\"400\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><strong>By Sir Ronald Sanders<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"antig-2951090747\" class=\"antig-content_5 antig-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ablpag\" aria-label=\"IMG_0041\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:864\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0041.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:864\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0041.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:240\/h:300\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0041.jpg 240w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:819\/h:1024\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0041.jpg 819w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:960\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0041.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1350\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>February 7 matters in Haiti\u2014not because it promises relief, but because it marks the end of an illusion. On that date, the mandate of Haiti\u2019s Transitional Presidential Council expires. From its inception, the Council was never embraced by the Haitian people. It was widely seen as a nine-headed contraption\u2014unwieldy, inward-looking, and vulnerable to rivalry, corruption, and personal ambition. Haitians warned that it would fail. They were right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Council has failed on every element of its own mandate. Security has not been brought under effective control. Daily life for Haitians has not improved. Elections to restore constitutional governance are nowhere in sight.<\/p><div id=\"antig-765637479\" class=\"antig-content_4 antig-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/discoverflow.co\/web\/antigua\" aria-label=\"ANU CVP Digital Broadband 1200x400_1\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1201\/h:401\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1201\/h:401\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 1201w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:300\/h:100\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:342\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:256\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" width=\"1201\" height=\"401\"   \/><\/a><\/div><div id=\"antig-1698643862\" class=\"antig-content_12 antig-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ablpag\" aria-label=\"IMG_0040\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:864\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0040.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:864\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0040.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:240\/h:300\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0040.jpg 240w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:819\/h:1024\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0040.jpg 819w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:960\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0040.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1350\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>There are, to be fair, limited signs of improvement on the security front. Haitian police operations, supported by international partners, have registered some tactical gains against gangs. But these tactical improvements do not redeem strategic failure<strong>.<\/strong>&nbsp;Security advances cannot substitute for constitutional legitimacy or political coherence. They are necessary\u2014but far from sufficient.<\/p><div id=\"antig-3008750966\" class=\"antig-content antig-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReggaeInTheParkAntigua\" aria-label=\"lucanio\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:864\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/lucanio.jpeg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:864\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/lucanio.jpeg 1080w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:240\/h:300\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/lucanio.jpeg 240w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:819\/h:1024\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/lucanio.jpeg 819w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:960\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/lucanio.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1350\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Political disunity\u2014Haiti\u2019s most enduring affliction\u2014reasserted itself even as the country slid deeper into violence and humanitarian despair. The result is now unmistakable: there is wide convergence\u2014both inside Haiti and among international partners\u2014that the Council\u2019s mandate ends on February 7 and must not be extended by manoeuvre or political improvisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Caribbean leaders have warned repeatedly against last-minute destabilization and the manufacture of fresh crises at the moment of expiry. The United Nations Security Council, in renewing its political mission in Haiti, has underscored the centrality of national dialogue, accountability, and elections.<\/p><div id=\"antig-175048587\" class=\"antig-content_2 antig-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.courts.com\/antigua\/\" aria-label=\"500X500 (1)\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:500\/h:500\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/500X500-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:500\/h:500\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/500X500-1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:300\/h:300\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/500X500-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:150\/h:150\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/500X500-1.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A February 2 consultative meeting convened by Albert Ramdin, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, involving two CARICOM foreign ministers and representatives of the United Nations, Canada and the United States, produced a common position\u2014despite reported differences of view. While participation in the consultation was limited, the expectation conveyed was broadly shared: predictable governance, credible security, timely elections, and\u2014still hoped for\u2014a Haitian-led solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This strips away a familiar alibi. The failure of the Transitional Council is not the product of foreign imposition. It is the consequence of internal conduct.<\/p><div id=\"antig-3498120126\" class=\"antig-content_3 antig-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.antiguabarbudaculinarymonth.com\/\" aria-label=\"CM key_WEB 1300x300_1\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1301\/h:301\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CM-key_WEB-1300x300_1.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1301\/h:301\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CM-key_WEB-1300x300_1.jpg 1301w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:300\/h:69\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CM-key_WEB-1300x300_1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:237\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CM-key_WEB-1300x300_1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:178\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CM-key_WEB-1300x300_1.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" width=\"1301\" height=\"301\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>That reality was articulated with moral authority by Edmonde Supplice Beauzile, a former parliamentarian, party leader, and serious contender for Haiti\u2019s presidency in 2016. Speaking not as a factional actor but as a committed citizen, she warned that Haiti suffers less from a lack of diagnosis than from a collective refusal to accept treatment. Her appeal was not for another council or political document, but for civic courage\u2014for leaders willing, even briefly, to place the country above personal ambition.<\/p><div id=\"antig-1089431736\" class=\"antig-content_6 antig-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/discoverflow.co\/web\/antigua\" aria-label=\"ANU CVP Digital Broadband 1200x400_1\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1201\/h:401\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1201\/h:401\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 1201w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:300\/h:100\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:342\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:256\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ANU-CVP-Digital-Broadband-1200x400_1-1.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" width=\"1201\" height=\"401\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>As February 7 approached, fears arose that some Council members might resist departure, heightened by the appearance of U.S. warships offshore. Publicly, the deployment was framed within a broader counter-trafficking and regional security operation; politically, it carried deterrent symbolism. Yet informed voices inside Haiti\u2014including former senior officials and civil-society leaders\u2014are confident that no constituency will mobilize to preserve the Council or provoke U.S. intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That assessment is reinforced by Pierre Esperance, Executive Director of Haiti\u2019s leading human-rights organization. Esperance expects all members of the Transitional Council to leave office on February 7. In the absence of an agreed replacement framework, he observes that the Prime Minister should remain in place solely to manage routine administration\u2014an outcome that would amount to a third consecutive transition rather than a resolution of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crucially, Esperance is explicit that continuity must not slide into rule by decree. Any interim arrangement must be bounded by a defined roadmap for governance, security, and elections, and constrained by independent oversight in the absence of a legislature. That oversight\u2014drawn from Haiti\u2019s own audit, financial-intelligence, and anti-corruption institutions\u2014would review public expenditures, test legality, and publicly flag abuse. Its function would be supervisory, not executive: to constrain discretion, deter misuse, and preserve the temporary character of authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>February 7 closes the Council\u2019s mandate. It also closes the benefit of the doubt. Transitions are judged by outcomes, not intentions. On security, governance, unity, and elections, the Transitional Presidential Council did not deliver. In law and in fact, its authority ends. It must go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it cannot reasonably be expected that all governing authority should rest in the Prime Minister alone. However able or committed he may be to Haiti\u2019s recovery, there must be a governing structure that aligns more closely with Haiti\u2019s constitutional order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A more defensible course exists. Haiti\u2019s Constitution locates executive authority not in the Prime Minister acting alone, but in the Government acting collectively through the Cabinet, which the Prime Minister chairs (Articles 155\u2013158). That structure\u2014long understood within Haiti\u2014serves as a constitutional check on rule by decree and provides the lawful basis for interim collective governance pending elections. It is an important consideration seldom acknowledged by external actors who influence Haiti\u2019s political arrangements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authority vested in the Cabinet, exercised for a strictly limited period, subject to oversight by civil society and the private sector, and anchored to an irreversible commitment to elections, would tie power to collective responsibility. Civil-society oversight would provide review of proposed decisions and prevent unchecked discretion. It is not elegant\u2014but neither was the Transitional Council, nor would governance by prime-ministerial decree be. Collective Cabinet authority, with independent review, is proportionate to this moment in Haiti\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Haitian actors must now govern with restraint and accountability. At the same time, the international community\u2014led by the United Nations, working in concert with CARICOM and key bilateral partners\u2014must match political expectations with operational support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What next for Haiti must mean sustained action on security, and timely resources to begin addressing the nation\u2019s long-neglected social and economic needs: basic services, livelihoods, food security, and institutional capacity. Without that parallel commitment, interim governance will be asked to carry burdens no transition can bear\u2014and the cycle of failure will simply resume under a different name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>(The author is the Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United States and the OAS, and Dean of the OAS Ambassadors accredited to the OAS. Responses and previous commentaries:&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sirronaldsanders.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.sirronaldsanders.com<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"antig-1455640546\" class=\"antig-in-comments_2 antig-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/@hadeedmotorsltd\" aria-label=\"Hadeed_WEB_Banner_MG-2\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1000\/h:250\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Hadeed_WEB_Banner_MG-2.png\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1000\/h:250\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Hadeed_WEB_Banner_MG-2.png 1000w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:300\/h:75\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Hadeed_WEB_Banner_MG-2.png 300w, https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:192\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Hadeed_WEB_Banner_MG-2.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" width=\"1000\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sir Ronald Sanders February 7 matters in Haiti\u2014not because it promises relief, but because it marks the end of an illusion. On that date, the mandate of Haiti\u2019s Transitional Presidential Council expires. From its inception, the Council was never embraced by the Haitian people. It was widely seen as a nine-headed contraption\u2014unwieldy, inward-looking, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":136461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>COMMENTARY: The End of the Illusion in Haiti: What Next? - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-the-end-of-the-illusion-in-haiti-what-next\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COMMENTARY: The End of the Illusion in Haiti: What Next?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sir Ronald Sanders February 7 matters in Haiti\u2014not because it promises relief, but because it marks the end of an illusion. On that date, the mandate of Haiti\u2019s Transitional Presidential Council expires. From its inception, the Council was never embraced by the Haitian people. 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