Haiti Holds its Breath Amidst Tenuous Transition
In recent months, Haiti has experienced the climax of the raging all-out conflict between the criminal conglomerate known as the G9, their chief rivals known as the G-Pep, anti-gang vigilantes, and the nation’s fragile central government. Several police stations nationwide have been burned to the ground by gang members, and troops loyal to the most prominent families in organized crime have nearly seized total control of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
This current chapter in Haiti’s successive challenges and crises can be generally traced to 2018. Due to its own economic woes, Venezuela was forced by circumstances to halt its usual exports of oil to Haiti, leading to a spike in fuel prices nationwide, which incited protests by Haitians. The following year, what began as general discontent over inflation had ballooned into an all-out anti-corruption movement aimed at the government of then-president Jovenel Moïse, whose resignation protesters demanded.
As protests escalated, instability was exacerbated by police brutality, heavy criticism of Haiti’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that killed at least 2,248 Haitians, and increased violent activity by organized crime. The situation deteriorated severely when mercenaries assassinated President Moïse on July 7, 2021. Nearly two weeks after his murder, acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry assumed the role of acting president.
From then on, organized criminal violence only spiraled further out of control, with the United Nations estimating that more than 2,400 people had been killed as of late 2023. In October, the UN approved a resolution that authorized a peacekeeping mission against gangs such as the G9 coalition, the network of families that have since violently taken control of much of Port-au-Prince.
The G9 was established by its current leader Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer, in 2020. Originally comprising nine of Haiti’s most powerful criminal groups, it has since grown to incorporate 12. With the G9 having tendrils of corruption deeply connected within the Haitian state, Harvard Law School published a report in 2021 alleging a relationship between not only Chérizier and the late President Moïse, but an existing support for the coalition by his government.
The dramatic events culminated in a series of violent exchanges between the gangs and the government starting on March 2, 2024, when G9 soldiers mounted assaults on the capital’s largest prisons, freeing thousands of their incarcerated comrades. While this happened, Prime Minister and President Henry was in Kenya, discussing Kenya’s leading role in the approved peacekeeping force bound for Haiti. Cementing their hold on approximately 80 percent of the city according to the UN, Chérizier announced over video that one of his goals was to prevent Henry from returning to Haiti, demanding his resignation. Days later Henry announced that he would step down from his leadership position—all at the whim of organized crime.
The history of these armed networks is well-storied, dating most directly to the 1950s. Following his rise to power, Haiti’s then-dictator François Duvalier formed a nearly all-encompassing secret police and broader paramilitary force which was named the Milice Civile (“Civil Militia”), and later the Volontaires de la Sécurité National (“National Security Volunteers”). Empowered with the mission of crushing all opposition to Duvalier during his reign, they soon became better known as the Tonton Macoute, in reference to the bogeyman of Haitian mythology, following their forced disappearances of dissidents.
Following Duvalier’s death in 1971, his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, assumed the presidency and continued to rule while wielding the private armed force, also known simply as the Macoute. However in 1986, the younger Duvalier fled Haiti amidst the fever pitch of a popular uprising against him, and with the dynasty’s toppling, the Macoute officially dissolved. Its members, however, broadly remained armed and rivaled the official Haitian army in size.
The failure of the Haitian state to disarm the Macoute proved critical, as the vast network of armed former regime operatives soon formed the bedrock of the modern criminal nexus which has since played such a crucial role in much of recent Haitian history.
Now, the involvement of these gangs is once again at center stage in a deeply pivotal moment for Haiti as the nation remains on edge over what this stage of transition holds. In the wake of Henry’s resignation, it is expected that a transitory council will be formed to assume the duties of the presidency. Meanwhile, the United Nations warns of the possibility of famine, fully-fledged civil war, and accentuated risks for pregnant women who could lose access to deeply needed healthcare.
Mass hunger in particular is one of the most immediate of concerns. The UN World Food Program has raised alarm over the frightening prospect of 4.35 million people facing “extreme hunger,” and almost 1.4 million currently being “on the brink of starvation.”
Meanwhile, the crisis has put Haitians themselves in extreme jeopardy. At the start of April 2024, the Associated Press reported that over 53,000 people had been displaced from Port-au-Prince over just the prior three weeks, fleeing the violence. In the city itself on April 2, an armed confrontation between police and gang divisions seized the downtown area, trapping bystanders in the crossfire for hours.
In turn, these circumstances have given rise to a wave of vigilantism. The movement known loosely as Bwa Kale has manifested itself in the extrajudicial killings of suspected gang members and the attempted militant defense of civilian communities. Originally, the movement appeared in full force in the spring of 2023, but its activities have since stagnated.
The best Haitians can hope for in the immediate moment, it seems, is a pause in the chaos. With an apparent break in further dramatic upheavals, at least at the time of writing, Haiti waits with bated breath.