Haiti's future is being planned on two tracks: traditional political power and gang power

Haiti’s future is being planned on two tracks — one involving traditional political power, the other focused on the power of gangs.

After an intense session of international diplomacy in Jamaica, a group of Caribbean nations and the United States announced Tuesday that Haiti’s best hope for calming violence rests with a council of influential figures who would elected an interim leader and could steer the country toward fresh presidential elections.

As they spoke to the media, a heavily armed gang leader held an impromptu news conference in Port-au-Prince and rejected any solution led and supported by the international community.

“Haitian people will choose who will govern them,” Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier said Monday.