Violence on the rise in Haiti: the main gang leader vowed to overthrow the Government

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Violence on the rise in Haiti: the main gang leader promised to fight against the Government, with more attacks throughout the country

The wave of violence in Haiti is increasing, now with the main gang leader promising to fight against the Government of Ariel Henry and the institutions that respond to him, until he is overthrown.

Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier said this Friday that he will not cease his attempts to remove the president from office and asked the people to stay away from the streets to avoid unwanted consequences resulting from the attacks.

“The battle will last as long as necessary, we will continue fighting Ariel Henry. To avoid collateral damage, keep the children at home,” said the former police officer who became the leader of the largest gang alliance that took over the country’s peace during the blockade of an oil terminal in 2022. Due to his actions, he has been sanctioned by the United Nations and the United States Department of the Treasury.

These warnings were given a few days after Henry refused to leave the Government on February 7 as established in the political agreement reached two years ago, after the death of the then president, Jovenel Möise.

Despite repeated calls to resign, the president clung to his position and assured that “as soon as the security problem begins to be resolved, we will launch at all costs the electoral process to hand over power to the leaders that the Haitian people will have to choose in good elections”, which could occur before August 31, 2025.

“The main job of a transitional government is to create the conditions to be able to organize elections in order to give the Haitian people their legitimate right to freely choose the men and women to whom they want to hand over the leadership of the country at all levels”, he added that day in his ten-minute speech in which, however, he avoided mentioning the agreement reached with the political arch and the international community.

Instead, he focused on the need to send an international force to intervene in the country and restore peace. In recent hours, during a conference in Nairobi, Henry asked the UN to increase its efforts to achieve “international cooperation to restore physical peace for our economic development”, to which the secretary general’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarruc, responded that The sending of 1,500 soldiers for the Multinational Security Support Mission, led by Kenya, has already been approved.

However, while these statements were taking place at the diplomatic level, the attacks did not stop on the Central American island. This Thursday, four police officers were killed in a shooting attack in Port-au-Prince.

The gang members opened fire on several targets, including police stations and even the international airport. Their objective was to capture the Chief of Police, the Government Ministers and prevent Henry from returning to the country, Chérizier explained.

“This situation was horrible. The city center was at war,” said a neighbor who witnessed the scene of dozens of people fleeing communities, premises, and schools.

This Friday, the capital seemed to dawn in a calmer climate, with people timidly trying to return to their routines. However, the National Police announced a protest for the afternoon, to protest the death of their four colleagues.

“The police need more equipment to confront the situation,” claimed spokesperson Garry Desrosiers, who stated that, in general, officers are outnumbered and outgunned by these criminal gangs.

(With information from AP, EFE, and Reuters)