Haiti, a Caribbean nation with a long history of upheaval, is experiencing one of its worst periods of chaos.
The gangs closed the airport; seaports, public buildings and shops looted; and attacked nearly a dozen police stations. Roads are blocked, cutting off food supplies, and 4,600 inmates have been freed after the attack on prisons.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry is stuck in Puerto Rico as gang members wreak havoc, call for his resignation and seize dozens of trucks full of World Food Program food shipments.
The state of emergency around Port-au-Prince, the capital, has been extended for another month.
With the government on the brink of collapse, the United States and Caribbean nations are working to craft a resolution – including a plan for a transitional government – that would restore some semblance of order to the troubled nation and allow Mr. Henry to return . home.
Who are the gangs and what do they want?
Experts estimate that up to 200 gangs operate in Haiti, including around 20 in Port-au-Prince. They range from small groups of a few dozen youths sharing guns to squads of around 1,500 men with weekly wages and automatic weapons who belong to hierarchical organizations with leaders.
Two main gang federations, G-Pèp and G-9 Family, control many of the capital’s poorest neighborhoods. Criminal groups and their allies sometimes collude, but more often they clash.
The groups are historically linked to political parties: the G-9 is affiliated with the governing Haitian Tèt Kale party, while the G-Pèp tends to support opposition parties.
The G-9 and its allies have largely taken control of the ports and roads around the country’s main airport. It was almost impossible to drive from Port-au-Prince to northern cities because gangs seized the north-south highway.
Mr Henry left the country last week for Kenya, where he signed a deal paving the way for a multinational force led by the East African nation to travel to Haiti and tackle the gangs.
Instead, in Mr. Henry’s absence, the gang leaders announced a loose alliance called “Vivre Ensemble” or “Living Together.” They launched coordinated attacks against state institutions with the aim of overthrowing the current government and preventing the deployment of international force.
“They want to swallow up neighborhoods one by one,” said Nicole M. Phillips, a human rights lawyer specializing in Haiti. “Whatever government allows them to do that, that’s what they want.”
The gangs also hope to establish a governing council to govern the country, and want to help choose its members so they can exercise control, said Robert Muggah, who researches Haiti for various United Nations agencies.
Who leads the gang?
The gangs have different leaders in different neighborhoods, but in recent days a gang leader named Jimmy Chérizier, known as Barbecue, has become the public face of the Living Together alliance.
A former police officer known for his ruthlessness, he was accused of carrying out massacres. His gang alliance, the G-9, commands central Port-au-Prince and has been accused of attacking neighborhoods allied with opposition political parties, ransacking homes, raping women and killing people at random.
He called it an “armed revolution”.
This week he sought to strike a more conciliatory tone, apologizing to people whose homes had been ransacked by gangs, including his own alliance, during the recent riots.
“Our first step in the battle is to overthrow the government of Ariel Henry, as we have always said, then we will ensure that the country has a strong state with a strong judiciary to fight corruption,” he said on a news broadcast. conference. “We will make sure we have a strong security system to allow everyone to move around when they want and come back when they want.
“Our goal is to see another Haiti.”
While it is unclear whether the gang leader’s more measured approach was sincere or calculated, Muggah noted that it was nevertheless a new position for Mr. Chérizier.
“We have seen Chérizier and the G-9 evolve over the last two weeks towards more political rhetoric,” Muggah said. “In addition to calling for rebellion and threatening civil war if their demands are not met, they are trying to propose solutions by which they would retain power if, at the very least, they were acquitted and granted amnesty for all the crimes they have committed. engaged.”
Why does Kenya intend to send police officers to Haiti?
Kenya was one of the few countries to respond to Haiti’s call for international help.
Haiti has not held elections for eight years. Its president was assassinated almost three years ago. Mr. Henry, the appointed prime minister, is widely regarded as an illegitimate leader.
The state has essentially lost credibility and power and criminal gangs have stepped in to fill the void.
Last year, nearly 5,000 people were killed and another 2,500 kidnapped. according to the UN, a level of violence that doubled compared to the previous year. January was the most violent month in two years, with more than 800 people killed, according to the United Nations
At the end of 2022, Henry asked the international community to step up. Some nations, including the United States, have expressed little interest given the dismal record of past international interventions in Haiti.
The United States agreed to fund the bulk of the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers, plus others from other nations, but the operation was delayed by Kenyan court rulings.
As Haitian gangs have grown in size and firepower, they have gained more territory and major infrastructure. They charge a fee to cross some highways and recover the seized trucks, and demand ransoms to free kidnapping victims.
In recent years, violent groups have begun to spread into rural areas like Artibonite, about 60 miles north of Port-au-Prince and in one of Haiti’s main agricultural regions. Gangs invade farms and make it difficult, if not impossible, for farmers to travel and sell their products.
Who are these gang members?
This is a complicated question to answer.
“We use the word ‘gang’ right now because it’s convenient, everyone uses it and it’s a word that everyone knows, but it doesn’t capture what’s going on,” said Romain Le Cour, who researches Haiti for the Global-based in Geneva. Initiative against transnational organized crime.
Most gang members are men in their 20s who come from poor urban neighborhoods where opportunities are scarce. They are often aligned with corporate leaders and elite politicians who pay them for everything from securing cargo to herding protesters. Political parties have used gang members in elections to swing votes or suppress them.
“In Haiti there is a long tradition of elites trying to create and nurture paramilitary groups that in recent decades have helped them serve their interests and use violence to maintain a monopoly on some goods or for some political interests,” Diego said From Rin. , a Haitian researcher at the International Crisis Group.
In Haiti the concept of irregularly formed armed groups dates back decades, and several types of violent actors have existed in the country.
During Haiti’s dictatorship under François Duvalier, paramilitary groups known as the Tonton Macoutes were known for their violence and repression. In 1995, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide outlawed paramilitary groups and disbanded the Haitian military.
Former soldiers originally belonging to Aristide’s movement later created local self-defense groups known as “baz,” which often followed charismatic leaders and came to govern parts of Port-au-Prince.
Other past paramilitary groups include the far-right Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti and the Chimères, which were affiliated with Aristide.
Now the boundary between a baz and a gang is often blurred.
People tired of gang violence have joined a movement known as “bwa kale,” which embraces vigilante justice. They have committed extrajudicial killings and generally target criminals, often with the support of the local community.
Additionally, many members of a government-sanctioned environmental brigade known as B-SAP have turned against the state, involving another group of armed people.
Will the police be able to stop them?
Over the past two years, the Haitian National Police has seen around 3,000 of its 15,000 personnel flee. Although the United States has invested nearly $200 million in the department, it is notoriously understrength and understaffed. The department has 47 armored vehicles, but on a recent visit by United Nations investigators, fewer than half were operational.
André Paultre contributed reporting from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
