Sanctions are at their most effective when targeted specifically towards bad actors and allow humanitarian aid to reach civilian populations. The hope is that this regime weakens the gangs by going after not only them, which is obviously quite hard to do - but also their backers. It's better than nothing, but further actions have been slowed down because you need to bring the UN Security Council on board, and that's difficult to do. Experts and diplomats worry that the crisis in Haiti is too broad and deep for sanctions to really make an impact at this point. And what do Haitians themselves think about these sanctions, and would they welcome foreign intervention? So it's very controversial. Most people on the ground seem