The world’s forgotten wars: how a gang leader broke a nation

Haiti, the first black republic, a country that threw the shackles of imperialism and slavery off before the Napoleonic wars has been brought to its knees. Plagued by corruption and poverty, in the last couple of years, the country has been turned into a real-life Gotham City with crime decriminalised and a central state non-existent. This national catastrophe can be seen through the lens of one police officer, turned gang leader, Jimmy Barbecue Chérizier.

Chérizier was born in Haiti during the almost 3 decade long dictatorship of Francois Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude Duvalier who were given the nicknames Papa and Baby Doc. When this government collapsed it was replaced by a string of weak governments that failed to maintain law and order, offering a dark window into the future. The situation became so dire that the United Nations was forced to intervene. The peacekeeping force that would be deployed would soon be wrapped up in controversies around crimes committed by its members and the importing of new diseases to the island.

Part of the peacekeeping mission before it collapsed was the rebuilding of the country’s police forces saw them establish the Unité départementale de maintien d’ordre a riot squad that, among its members included Chérizier. In the continuation of Haitian political history, the riot police soon became known for their brutality. While a member Chérizier was involved in frequent extrajudicial killings and one of the country’s worst massacres in 2018, the La Saline massacre. Here Chérizier and his colleagues were responsible for the killing of 71 people, 7 rapes and the destruction of 400 homes.

Although expelled from the police forces, those who perpetrated these crimes remained largely unpunished and Chérizier himself was able to avoid capture and enter into the gang underworld of the country.

Since 2010 the country has been faced with natural disasters that have drastically limited development. In 2010 and 2021 they were hit by major earthquakes that caused severe economic problems in a country already struggling under poverty; between 2015 and 2017 there was a prolonged drought that devastated crop yields and in 2016 and 2021 a hurricane and tropical storm both made landfall in the country.

It was during this period that the final episodes of political instability would play out. In 2017 president Jovenal Moise, suspended democratic institutions and ruled by decree until 2021. During this period gangs, possibly including Chérizier’s, have been accused of being tools to repress political opposition and maintain the president’s grip on power.

One of the president’s tools of repression was the gangs that so populated the island, including that of Chérizier. In 2019 the Bel Air neighbourhood of Port au Prince was sacked and torched for four days by Chérizier’s forces who had received money, arms, uniforms and vehicles from the president. The continued attacks would target opposition neighbourhoods and the funding provided helped boost Chérizier to the leadership of the Delmas 6 gang. However, in 2021 President Moise was assassinated by armed men in his home. Following this Prime Minister Arial Henry took over as acting president despite New York Times allegations that he was complicit in the murder of Joise Moisie.

As Henry took power the latest period of gang violence escalated, with it being more and more led by Chérizier. Within 3 months of the assassination, Chérizier formalised his gang movement against the government forming the G9 Family and Allies calling for the removal of Henry and a political transition.

In 2024 Chérizier’s offensives against the government continued to escalate and the G9 launched an offensive against government buildings in the capital and the airport. During this offensive, they were able to cut Henry off from returning to the country from a diplomatic visit, effectively removing any claim that he was in control of the country and leading to his resignation. A major victory for the gangs who had now toppled the government.

In Henry’s place, a new transitional council was established that was meant to regain control of the country with the support of the international community and begin rebuilding the country.

Although the official government of the country is the new Transitional Council, Chérizier and the gangs are effectively in control of the country. 80% of the capital is fully under their control and the deployment of Kenyan police forces to support the Haitian ones is doing little to curb the gangs’ control.

Chérizier objectives, however, remain unclear. His offensive has given him the ability to genuinely seize the reigns of power, but he does little to act like the leader of the country and remains just a gang leader. He has let the state and its public services collapse with hospitals having ‘no sign of medical staff’ (BBC).

As things stand there is no apparent way out of the crisis for Haiti. The Transitional Council has failed to take any actions to retake the state and was forced to remove its first PM less than they year after they appointed him. In the last 3 months, the Council has been silent, offering no solutions deemed worthy enough to be reported on by the international media. Meanwhile, Chérizier claims a desire to seek peace in Haiti having demanded in March to be placed on the Transitional Council. However, what he really desires is unclear. In talking with the press he has made claims that he seeks equality and believes he has similarities with Che Guevara and Robin Hood, but actions speak louder than words.

Either he has no control over his G9 alliance or, and this is the far more likely reality, he does not care what is happening in the lives of Haitian families means that while he is one of the most powerful men on the island, there is little hope for stability.

What this means regionally is dire. A country of 11 million people can not make these people stay within its borders when there is no government. Puerto Rico, a US territory is not far from the island, nor is Jamaica, Cuba and the Turks and Caicos, let alone the Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. In desperate times the Carribean sea is unlikely to be the greatest deterrent to those fleeing gang government.

This potential Haitian refugee crisis could only be made worse by the presidency of Trump, a man who accused Haitian migrants of eating pets and a mass deportation plan does not inspire confidence that he will take in refugees.

An international plan, more credible than a police detachment needs to be developed and quickly or else the gang crisis in Haiti will become many more countries problem.

Sources:
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/instability-haiti
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/10/haiti-gang-boss-kingpin-barbecue-jimmy-
cherizier
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68531759
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68697406
https://apnews.com/article/haiti-gang-violence-kenya-police-united-nations-
767d0ca23708d17631b41626a7168429
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68534619
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/haitis-troubled-path-development
https://insightcrime.org/haiti-organized-crime-news/jimmy-cherizier-alias-barbecue/

Words by Archie Sykes