Sao Paulo
The deepening of the local crisis in Haiti following the closure of its borders with the Dominican Republic, the country with which it shares the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, has breathed new life into the local urban gangs, whose main leader is a former police officer Jimmy Chérizier has one nationalist discourse and an escalation of violence.
Known as “Barbecue”, the leader of the G9 gang coalition took to the streets this Wednesday (20) for the second time this week surrounded by armed men to call on the population and attract the attention of the local press to support his Opinion spreading threats.
Barbecue again called for an armed movement to overthrow the interim government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has ruled the country for two years since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by mercenaries in PortauPrince in July 2021.
He also added two more promises to his speech. First, that it will support with arms the construction of a canal to divert the waters of the Massacre (or Dajabón) river, which the country shares with the Dominican Republic, a project that is at the center of a regional imbroglio.
Second, Barbecue said in an interview with the Associated Press this week that the men under his command will fight any multinational force that commits “abuses” against his people. He refers to debates in the UN Security Council, which in a few weeks may decide to send a multinational force to support the Haitian National Police in combating armed violence.
The leader of the G9 coalition mentioned two incidents that occurred during the presence of MINUSTAH, the UN mission that, under Brazil’s leadership, was in the Caribbean country from 2004 to 2017: the cases of sexual abuse against Haitian women and the Introduction of cholera to the country, which killed about 10,000 people.
“We will fight them until our last breath. This will be a fight for the Haitian people to save our dignity and our land.”
Reinforcing Barbecue’s attempt to masquerade as a defender of Haitian sovereignty, the leader’s outing this Wednesday coincides with the date the country celebrates Dessalines Day, a nod to the 265th birthday of Jean Jacques Dessalines , which declared Haiti’s independence from France in 1804. The date is a national holiday.
“The now coordinated movement of the gangs gives the impression that they want to present themselves as defenders of the state and the Haitian people,” says Brazilian Ricardo Seitenfus, a former representative of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the country.
Facing supply problems caused by the closure of borders, the G9 promised this week to allow the flow of products from the country to the PortauPrince metropolitan area, currently blocked by gangs, to ease the crisis.
Even Barbecue’s clothing was different from her traditional clothing. The leader, who usually appears in gold necklaces, bulletproof vests, berets and militaryprint clothing, wore a plain olive green shirt without decorations this Wednesday.
Haiti was one of the common themes in several speeches by world leaders at the UN General Assembly taking place in New York this week. The American Joe Biden called on the Security Council to approve the multinational mission to be sent to the country. President Lula (PT), in turn, briefly mentioned the “continuation of the humanitarian crisis”.
The most forceful leader was the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader. From the UN pulpit, the Dominican attributed the escalation of the crisis to Henry. The Prime Minister’s government is dysfunctional and currently has no elected member in its ranks the last election in Haiti was in 2016 and there is no prediction for a future election.
Abinader again criticized the construction of the canal on the Massacre River. As he had previously said, it was a “water control maneuver by a small Haitian economic and political elite to profit from sales to small local producers.”
Those involved in the project claim that the diversion is justified to meet the needs of local farmers after a long period of drought. The Dominican government, in turn, claims it was not informed about the resumption of canal construction which has been suspended since Moïse’s death and its possible social and environmental impacts.
Santo Domingo claims to have conducted research showing that the diversion would put dozens of families at risk of a lack of water supply and that in the event of extreme events earthquakes are common on the island the impact could also be worsened.
Haiti is currently experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis in the Americas. Since the start of this year, at least 5,162 people have fallen victim to gangrelated incidents, which are increasingly prevalent due to a power vacuum and weakened institutions. According to the UN office in the country, 2,907 of them died.
A recent report by the Haitian government together with United Nations agencies showed that 4.35 million Haitians or 44% of the local population are suffering from acute food insecurity.