A standoff between a powerful gang federation and Haiti’s government is testing how much power both sides wield and threatens to further derail a paralyzed country where millions of people are struggling to find fuel and water.
A former police officer who leads a gang alliance known as “G9 and Family” has proposed his own plan for Haiti’s future — even seeking seats in the Haitian Cabinet — while demanding that the administration of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry grant amnesty and void arrest warrants against the group’s members, a demand that so far has gone unanswered.
In the middle of last month, the gang surrounded a key fuel terminal to demand Henry’s resignation and to protest a spike in petroleum prices after the prime minister announced that his administration could no longer afford to subsidize fuel.
Photo: Reuters
That move, coupled with thousands of protesters who have blocked streets in the capital of Port-au-Prince and other major cities, has caused major shortages, forcing hospitals to cut back on services, gas stations to close and banks and grocery stores to restrict hours.
In a recent video on Facebook, G9 and Family leader Jimmy Cherizier, who goes by the nickname “Barbecue,” read a proposed plan to stabilize Haiti that includes the creation of a “Council of Sages” with one representative from each of Haiti’s 10 departments.
The gang is also demanding positions in the Cabinet, said the director of the Haitian National Disarmament, Dismantling and Reintegration Commission, speaking to radio station Magik 9 on Thursday.
“It’s a symptom of their power, but also a symptom that they may fear what is coming,” Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, said of the gang’s demands.
Henry and 18 members of his Cabinet appealed nearly a week ago for the deployment of foreign troops to quell violence and end the fuel blockade, a proposal that has yet to be formally discussed by the UN Security Council, which meets tomorrow.
The gang, which has overpowered an understaffed and under-resourced police department, is likely wary of the potential deployment of specialized armed troops, Fatton said.
“They are trying to get the best deal they can get while to some extent they have the upper hand,” he said.
Fatton said that while the demand to give Cherizier’s gang federation Cabinet positions is “a crazy proposition,” he added that an amnesty involving giving up weapons might be a solution.
“The government saves face, the gangs say: ‘We’ve achieved what we’ve wanted,’ and there’s a compromise,” he said.
However, the demand to void arrest warrants would likely be rejected by the government, which has long sought to arrest Cherizier on charges including orchestrating one of the country’s worse massacres, in which dozens of men, women and children were slain.
Haitian officials have warned the international community that the situation is dire, noting that a recent cholera outbreak could also worsen due to the limited availability of water and other basic supplies.
The UN International Children’s Emergency Fund on Friday said that nearly 100,000 children younger than five are already suffering from severe acute malnutrition and are vulnerable to cholera.
Later in the day, a report from UN agencies and international aid groups said a record 4.7 million people in Haiti are facing acute hunger, including 19,000 in catastrophic famine conditions, all in the gang-controlled Cite Soleil slum of Port-au-Prince.
It is also becoming a crisis for women.
The UN Population Fund on Friday said that 30,000 pregnant women are at risk, because roughly three-fourths of Haiti’s hospitals are unable to provide services due to a lack of fuel.
In addition, gangs are increasingly raping women and girls, as well as boys and to some extent men, to exert and retain control over territory, a UN Human Rights report released on Friday said.
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti Helen la Lime told reporters that human rights abuses including rape and sexual assault have reached alarming levels.
“The testimonies of victims are truly horrible,” she said. “This must stop.”
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