Almost as frightening as the threats from a Haitian crime lord of “a civil war that will lead to genocide” on Wednesday was the silence from the country’s leaders. Jimmy Chérizier, widely known as Barbecue, is behind the week-long uprising by gangs that has freed 4,000 prisoners and besieged airports and police stations. The gangs are demanding the resignation of the unelected and unpopular prime minister, Ariel Henry, who arrived in Puerto Rico on Tuesday having been unable to return home from a foreign trip. But while ordinary citizens reel from the violence, he has yet to comment. The finance minister declared a state of emergency via a press release.
Even before the gangs banded together last week, a country used to suffering and turmoil was struggling with an unprecedented crisis that began with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. More than 4,780 people were murdered in 2023 – double the homicide rate in 2022 – while 2,490 were kidnapped. This year, 1,193 have already been killed. Vigilantism emerged last year, with angry civilians lynching suspected gang members. Tens of thousands of residents have been displaced, and the UN has called the effect on food supplies “cataclysmic”.
“Our people are dying, our sisters are being raped, our children are going to sleep hungry … We are hostages of about maybe 3,000 men who are running the country, either gangs with ties and white shirts or … roaming the streets,” said the pro-democracy advocate Monique Clesca. The links between those two classes of “bandits” remain murky, but violence is a political as well as criminal tool.
There was widespread anger in Haiti that the US backed Dr Henry so that he could rule as prime minister without a president, instead of supporting the roadmap for transition drawn up by civil society. Last week, he finally set an election date, but the timeline would still see him remain in power until 2026 – and he agreed it with leaders of Caricom, the regional political union, not Haitians. Haiti has not had a single elected official for over a year.
Reportedly, the US and Caricom are now urging Dr Henry to stand down, having finally concluded that it is not tenable for him to continue. But there is grave concern about what form a political transition might take. Among those putting forward proposals are Guy Philippe, a former coup leader who was recently repatriated from the US – where he faced drugs charges and was jailed after pleading guilty to money laundering. There is also fear that even if an international security mission goes ahead, it could backfire. Haiti has a long and unhappy history of foreign intervention, and UN peacekeepers have brought cholera and were responsible for sexual abuse and exploitation.
The current plan is Kenyan-led, but faces both political and legal opposition there. There is good reason to be cautious. Deploying security forces who do not speak Creole or French increases the risk of things going wrong and of civilians being misidentified as potential threats. Human rights must be put at the heart of any mission. And unless the security forces are fully trained, equipped, organised and informed, criminals may sense weakness. The gangs have become much better armed and more organised in recent years. Above all, any deployment should be accompanied by the resignation of Dr Henry and a political settlement that puts Haitian civil society at the heart of proceedings, returning power to Haiti’s ignored citizens.
