NEED TO KNOW
Mission Impossible: In Haiti, the Gangs Are Winning
HAITI
The “Unknown Maroon,” a statue of a freedom fighter in downtown Port-au-Prince, is one of the only structures in the neighborhood that remains unscathed.
Surrounded by deserted, litter-filled streets, it stands as it has for 60 years near the bullet-ridden presidential palace, the supreme court, the army’s headquarters, and other public buildings.
But now, it’s obvious that it is on the front lines of a raging, undeclared war, where the only sounds on the streets are of gunfire.
“The whole downtown is inaccessible,” Frederick Mangonès, 79, the son of the statue’s late sculptor, Albert Mangonès, told the Guardian. “(I feel about the statue) the same way I feel about Haiti – very sad, and discouraged and angry.”
The statue is a monument to Haiti’s revolutionary fight for freedom – when, in 1804, former slaves successfully rebelled against their French colonizers. Now, it is witnessing another kind of battle – between the government and its citizens on one side and the criminal gangs that all but rule the country on the other.
The gangs are winning, say analysts.
Two weeks ago, for example, a powerful coalition of gangs called the Viv Ansanm (Living Together) launched fresh attacks on Haiti’s capital, driving dozens of families from their homes and students from their schools as police tried to hold the gunmen back, the Associated Press reported.
The next day, the gangs set fire to the premises of historic Radio Télévision Caraïbes, leaving the multistory building of the popular radio and television station, an institution in Haiti, charred by black smoke, the Miami Herald reported.
“They’re trying to take more areas, but police are there, making sure that doesn’t happen,” said Lionel Lazarre, deputy spokesman for Haiti’s National Police.
But the gangs already control 85 percent of Haiti’s capital. There isn’t a lot more to take.
Since the beginning of the year, the gangs have been escalating their attacks since a Haitian government task force began sending explosive drones into the gangs’ strongholds.
The attacks have closed down most key elements of a city: public offices, shops, even the country’s largest hospital.
Last summer, Kenya sent a United Nations-authorized security force of about 400 Kenyan police officers to help. The problem is that they are lacking staff, weapons, equipment, and funding. As a result, they have made little difference. Deaths from gang violence have increased since they arrived and they have gained more territory, according to a joint investigation by the New Humanitarian and Kenya’s Nation newspaper.
“The Kenya-led security support mission to Haiti is, at present, unfit for purpose,” the New Humanitarian wrote. “(But then), it was arguably mission impossible from the start.”
For example, the mission was initially supposed to deploy 2,500 officers and soldiers from multiple countries instead of just the 400 Kenyan police officers. Only 150 Guatemalan military police officers have joined them – in January – instead of hundreds of others from other countries who failed to honor their promises.
As a result, Haitian police and their Kenyan counterparts are outmanned and outgunned by the gangs, who have a seemingly endless supply of weapons and a home-turf advantage, analysts say.
Meanwhile, as a result of the crisis in the country, which has collapsed the economy, it’s become easy for the gangs to recruit among the young, who are unemployed and desperate. They recruit children, too, because 1.5 million of them have no schools to attend and nothing else to do.
The UN reported that minors now make up around half of the gang members after child recruitment rose by 70 percent in 2024 over 2023.
Adding to the violence is a growing vigilante movement known as the Bwa Kale: Its members kill those they suspect of being gang members and help police, who are desperate for the support. They shoot first and ask questions later.
The group, in turn, is infuriating the gangs, which conduct massacres in retaliation.
In the meantime, Haitians continue to survive, barely. About 700,000 people were displaced in 2024. About 40,000 more fled the capital in just three weeks earlier this year.
There are now “pockets of famine-like conditions” in some of the refugee camps set up for them, with half the country of 11 million people experiencing “acute food insecurity,” UN officials say. Part of the problem is that humanitarian aid can’t reach almost half of the population that needs it because of security issues: Gangs have fired on planes and helicopters, forcing the closure of the airport, and control the main roads. Meanwhile, almost no one in Haiti has access to healthcare anymore. The main hospitals and clinics have been attacked and closed.
In 2024, at least 5,600 people were killed in Haiti due to gang violence – about 1,000 more than in 2023 – and 2,212 were injured, according to UN officials.
“Haiti is in freefall – a nation teetering on the brink, said UN human rights official William O’Neill. “I hate to sound like a broken record, but the situation is more dire each time I go. Haiti’s survival is at stake.”
Meanwhile, there’s no one steering the country anymore.
In November, Haiti appointed a new prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. His predecessor, Garry Conille, lasted just over five months. He was fired because of in-fighting over a bribery scandal involving members of the Transitional Presidential Council, a nine-person body created last year by Haiti’s appointed cabinet charged with carrying out presidential duties.
Haiti has not had a president since 2021, when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, an event that set off the downward spiral of the country. Elections haven’t been held since then mainly because gang control over much of Haiti makes fair elections impossible.
As a result, the country has no legitimate government, either federal or local, and every seat in Haiti’s parliament has been vacant since January 2023, when the lawmakers’ terms expired.
Conille and the council were tasked with preparing the country for elections in 2025. That doesn’t look possible anymore.
Police officer-cum warlord Jimmy Chérizier, also known as Barbecue, who leads Viv Ansanm, says he’s available to lead the country. It’s no surprise that he’s offering, say analysts, explaining that the gangs are really leading a rebellion, making no secret of the fact that they want to depose the government and take over.
Likening himself to Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, Chérizier wants to participate in Haiti’s political transition. In January, he said his coalition of gangs has now become a political party.
In spite of the backlash, some politicians are taking him seriously.
Liné Balthazar, the president of the Haitian Tèt Kale party, said the country may have to resort to desperate measures to get out of the mess it is in. That means sleeping with the enemy.
“Let’s not lie to each other,” said Balthazar. “There is a phenomenon of illegal armed groups in the country. We must resolve this problem in an adult and pragmatic manner. No one is going to do it for us.”
To read the full edition and support independent journalism, join our community of informed readers and subscribe today!