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LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR

LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR

A daily publication Of the dialogue

March 7, 2024

Can the Gangs That Are Terrorizing Haiti Be Stopped?

Gangs in Haiti have intensified attacks this week, warning that the country could erupt into a civil war, and are seeking the ouster of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. // File Photo: Haitian Government.

Q

  • Haiti’s dire security situation has worsened in recent days, as heavily armed gangs broke into the country’s two largest prisons, freeing thousands of inmates, and also launched an attack on the main international airport in Port-au-Prince. Gang federation leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier has vowed to “get rid of” Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was in Kenya—meeting with officials about sending an armed force to Haiti to fight the gangs—when the chaos erupted. With still no international force having been deployed to Haiti, how long will Haiti be able to fend off the gangs’ increasingly bold attacks? How close are Haiti’s gangs to overthrowing the government? What are the government’s options right now to prevent that from happening?

A

François Pierre-Louis, professor of political science at Queens College, City University of New York: “For the past five years, Haiti’s capital and a few of its provinces have been under gang assaults. Despite repeated calls by civil society groups for Prime Minister Ariel Henry to address this crisis, he barely took a stand against them. Even though the police have been funded, trained and equipped, they are paralyzed as the gangs have continued to seize more territory. Therefore, the latest attacks, which resulted in Henry being on the brink of being overthrown, are the result of his ineptitude and inaction since he took power in 2021. Today, he is not in control of the country, and the gangs have neither the capacity nor the leadership to govern. If they succeeded in overthrowing him, it would be…”

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