On August 7, Laurent Saint-Cyr, the one-time head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti, was sworn in as president of the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC). He is set to lead the council through the end of its mandate in February 2026.

With the position of prime minister held by fellow businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, and no elected officials holding office at any level, the government is directly in the hands of the private sector — a first in the recent history of Haiti, a country with some of the highest inequality rates in the world and where oligarchical state capture has hampered development for centuries.

“Private sector actors played a role in creating this chaos,” Fritz Alphonse Jean, an economist who held the rotating presidency of the council prior to Saint-Cyr, told Ayibopost. “When the private sector controls both branches of the executive, it raises legitimate concerns.”

The week prior, there were allegations of attempts to thwart the transfer from Jean to Saint-Cyr or even to remove the prime minister — stoked by a social media post from the US State Department referencing vague reports of “bribery.” Jean denied any untoward attempt at blocking Saint-Cyr or removing File-Aimé, even while acknowledging his concerns over the private sector’s consolidation atop the government. But the US statement sent a clear message: the US was once again picking sides in Haiti’s internal politics.

Notably, the ascension of private sector actors in the political space is taking place at the same time as perhaps greater than ever scrutiny of those same actors. Beginning with the 2022 imposition of a UN sanctions regime, myriad UN reports have focused on the role of Haitian oligarchs in financing and providing weapons to armed groups, and on corrupt practices such as customs and tax avoidance, drug trafficking, bribery, and general state capture. Canada, going further than any other nation, has implemented individual sanctions against several high-profile individuals from the private sector.

In July, the Trump administration arrested Haitian oligarch Reginald Boulos, who had been living in Florida, alleging that he had “engaged in a campaign of violence and gang support that contributed to Haiti’s destabilization.” Like many among the Haitian elite, Boulos is a US Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR). In an unprecedented move, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US would initiate deportation proceedings against any LPR found to be supporting Haitian gangs. Boulos’ deportation proceedings are ongoing. The action set off speculation that the US would target additional Haitians under similar grounds.

The two superficially contradictory developments — the consolidation of the private sector’s hold over government and the targeting of the private sector for sanctions and law enforcement action — have set off a wave of DC-based lobbying activity in recent months.

In February, Prime Minister Fils-Aimé hired Carlos Trujillo, a former Trump administration official, as a lobbyist. The 12-month contract — which covers the remainder of the transitional government’s mandate — includes a monthly base payment of $35,000. But the Haitian state is not the only entity staffing up with DC-based lobbyists.

In March, a US-registered corporate entity controlled by the notorious Deeb familyhired Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, one of the largest lobbying entities in the country, to represent its interests in Washington. Reynold Deeb, one of three brothers involved in the family business, has been sanctioned........

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