An American-backed foreign force may be sent to Haiti

Few countries have experienced as much foreign meddling as Haiti. After winning independence from France in 1804, it lived through a two-decades long occupation by the United States. Since 1994 the United Nations has sent forces to the country twice. After an earthquake in 2010 aid organisations flocked there. Now another intervention seems imminent. On October 19th the United Nations was due to vote on two resolutions backed by the United States and Mexico to send a force into the country and to impose sanctions on gang members. The vote was delayed, but expected imminently.