Gangs complicate Haitian efforts to recover from assassination

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Gangs in Haiti have long been funded by powerful politicians and their allies – and many Haitians fear that these backers may lose control of the increasingly powerful armed groups that have driven thousands of people from their homes as they fight over territory and kill civilians. They storm food stores.

The escalation of gang violence threatens to complicate – and exacerbate – political efforts to recover from the brazen murder of President Jovenel Moss last week. Haiti’s government is in disarray. No parliament, no president, disagreement over who is prime minister, weak police force. But the gangs seem more organized and powerful than ever.

While the violence has focused in the capital, Port-au-Prince, it has affected life throughout Haiti, crippling the fragile economy, closing schools, overburdening the police and hampering efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The country is turning into a vast desert where we are being swallowed up by wild animals,” the Haitian Congress of Religions said in a recent statement denouncing the upsurge in violent crime. “We are refugees and exiles in our country.”

Recently, gangs have stolen tens of thousands of bags of sugar, rice and flour, as well as looted and burned homes in the capital. That has prompted thousands of people to seek shelter in churches, outdoor fields and a large gymnasium, as the government and international donors struggle to feed and find long-term housing.

Among them are dozens of disabled people who were forced to flee last month when gangs set fire to their camp after being injured in the disastrous 2010 earthquake.

“I was running for my life in the camp on these crutches,” said Opas Woelki, 44, who lost one of his legs in the earthquake. Bullets were flying from different directions. …All I could see were the houses on fire.”

He was among more than 350 people crammed into a school that had been converted into a makeshift shelter where no one was wearing face masks.

A cigarette hangs from the mouth of an elderly woman washing clothes in a large bowl while a group of children take turns flicking a single piece of blue marble. Nearby, a teenage girl squatted next to an elderly blind man sitting on a concrete floor and raised a small water bag to his mouth.

Experts say the violence is the worst in nearly two decades – since before the establishment of a second UN peacekeeping mission in 2004.

Programs aimed at curbing gang activity and aid flows after the earthquake helped calm some of the problem, but once that money dried up and aid programs closed, gangs turned to kidnappings and extortion from businesses and the neighborhoods they control.

Gangs are partly funded by powerful politicians, a practice that has recently been denounced even by a notorious benefactor – Jimmy Scherzer, a former police officer who heads a gang alliance known as the G9 Family and Allies.

He complained that the country was being “held hostage” by people he did not identify: “They reign everywhere, distribute weapons to densely populated neighbourhoods, and play the dividing card to establish their control.”

Cherizier, known as “The Barbecue”, has been linked to several massacres and his alliance is believed to be allied with the right-wing Moïse party. He criticized what he called “bourgeoisie” and “exploiters,” adding: “We will use our weapons against them for the benefit of the Haitian people. … We are ready for war!”

Schreizer held a press conference on Saturday and called Moyes’ killing “cowardly and despicable,” saying that while many disagreed with him, “nobody wants this tragic outcome that will exacerbate the crisis and amplify political instability.”

He also issued a veiled warning: “We call on everyone who tries to take advantage of this coup to think carefully, and think about whether they have in their hands the appropriate solution to the problems of the country.”

Schreizer added that he and others will demand justice for Moss: “We are just now warming up.”

G9 is one of at least 30 gangs that authorities believe control nearly half of Port-au-Prince. Their names range from “5 seconds” – how long it takes them to commit a crime – to “400 Mawozo” – which roughly translates to 400 lame men.

The epicenter of recent gang violence is Martissant, a community in southern Port-au-Prince whose main road links the capital with southern Haiti. Drivers’ fear of being caught in the crossfire or worse has nearly paralyzed commercial communications between the two regions, driving up prices, delaying food and fuel transportation and forcing international organizations to cancel programs including distributing cash to more than 30,000 people, according to the A July 1 report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

More than one million people are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance and protection, the agency said.

“Newly displaced people are taking refuge in shelters every day,” she added, adding that hygiene there is “horrendous.” Authorities are concerned about a spike in coronavirus cases in a country that has not yet introduced a single vaccine.

“The escalating violence on an almost daily basis is expected to continue for some time,” the agency said in a report.

Macroeconomics is not helping. The United Nations said that the cost of a basket of basic foodstuffs rose by 13% in May compared to February, and that foreign direct investment fell by more than 70% from 2018 to 2020, dropping from $105 million to $30 million. This translates to fewer jobs and increased poverty in a country where 60% of the population earns less than $2 a day and 25% is less than $1 a day.

Many also fear that gangs could derail elections scheduled for September and November – a crucial contest to restore a functional legislative and executive branch that is now largely moribund in the wake of Moyes’ murder.

But Haiti’s Minister of Elections, Mathias Pierre, said on Saturday that those who support gangs may want to disrupt the elections. Such periods usually see an uptick in violence as groups attempt to use fear to negate the advantages of competitors.

It would not work this time, he said, noting that countries held elections even during wars. We need to organize elections. … They need to back off.”

The Haitian Citizens Protection Office, a type of ombudsman agency, urged the international community to assist Haiti’s National Police, which it said was “unable to respond effectively to the country’s gangs”.

Pierre said the lack of resources and the weakness of the Haitian police force prompted the government to ask the United States and the United Nations to send troops to help maintain order after Moss was killed: “We have a responsibility to avoid chaos.”

Officials say they are trying to boost the budget and workforce for a police force that now has about 9,000 operational officers for a country of more than 11 million people. Experts say it needs at least 30,000 officers to maintain control.

The government is also trying to find out where to put people who have fled their homes due to violence, such as 43-year-old Marjorie Benoit, her husband and their three children.

Benoit, who lost his arm in the quake, said they fled with gunfire in the area around them. She has now lost her house and all of their belongings.

“We’re uprooted,” she said, “and we don’t know where to begin.”

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