Dánica Coto and Evens Sanon | Associated Press

Compas, a beloved Haitian music and dance genre inspired by merengue and infused with percussion, has made UNESCO’s cultural heritage list. The syncopated rhythm, created in the 1950s, wafts from bars, bedrooms and businesses across Haiti, lifting spirits and providing solace from the country’s grinding poverty and soaring gang violence.

The U.N. Security Council's approval for the creation of a so-called gang suppression force in Haiti has been met with wary resignation in the small Caribbean state.