Port-au-Prince (Agenzia Fides) – Among the approximately 300 criminal gangs active in Haiti (see Fides, 10/2/2024), there are several alliances of different gangs. The most important is the so-called G9 Alliance (“G9 Fanmi e Alye”), an alliance of nine criminal gangs founded in June 2020.
Its founder and leader is former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, also known as “Barbecue”. The G9’s main source of income is blackmail in its many forms. The criminal organization collects “protection money” from local businesses, street vendors and public transport drivers and coordinates the kidnapping of civilians for extortion purposes. The G9 has also taken control of public services such as electricity and water supplies.
“Barbecue” was suspected (perhaps wrongly) of being involved in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse
(see Fides, 8/7/2021), who had been his political leader of reference. The G9 was created to support Moïse, when he found himself facing the hostility of the population due to the country’s economic crisis, rampant corruption, petrol shortages and increasing violence. “Barbecue” and his former police officers (the Delmas 6) had been fired from the police force because of the arbitrary massacres they had committed, but the Moïse government continued to provide them with money, weapons, police uniforms and government vehicles.
When Barbecue announced the formation of the G9 alliance, many believed it was a formation in support of Moïse, following a tradition of Haitian politicians using gangs to suppress opponents and maintain social order in poor neighborhoods.
“Barbecue” promised that the G9 would restore peace to Port-au-Prince. But the kidnappings escalated dramatically, and internal disputes within the G9 led to further violence.
Shortly before the president’s assassination, the G9 had severed its ties with the Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale (PHTK) – Moïse’s party – because its dominance of much of Port-au-Prince allowed it to control a significant number of polling stations, particularly in areas such as Martissant and Lower Delmas. The G9 was therefore able to offer its votes to other political supporters. And indeed, Moïse’s death does not seem to have had much impact on the G9’s activities. Instead, gangs affiliated with the G9 took advantage of the widespread instability following Moïse’s death to expand their territory and take control of key infrastructure such as Haiti’s largest oil terminal – Terminal Varreux.
The G9, in turn, has joined forces with 11 other criminal gangs to form the so-called G20.
The G9’s main competitor is the G-PEP, a coalition of gangs founded specifically to combat the G9’s influence and widely supported by the PHTK’s political opponents.
The G-PEP, led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, also known as “Ti Gabriel”, has long been fighting with the G9 for control of key areas in Port-au-Prince and in particular the northern municipality of Cité Soleil was a stronghold of the G-PEP and whose residents have had to live as victims of gang fighting in inhumane conditions and without basic services such as water, electricity and medical care since 2022.
One of the gangs that have joined the G-PEP is the “400 Mawozo,” the largest gang in Haiti, known for the kidnapping of 17 American and Canadian Protestant missionaries in 2021. In connection with this kidnapping, the gang’s second leader, Germine Joly, was arrested and extradited to the United States in 2022, where he is accused not only of kidnapping American citizens, but also of arms trafficking. The leader of the “400 Mawozo”, Joseph Wilson, alias “Lanmò San Jou”, is still wanted by the FBI.
The “400 Mawozo” focuses mainly on group kidnappings, including some Catholic priests and missionaries (see Fides 28/2/2023 and 23/3/2023).
One of the gangs that does not belong to any specific criminal “association” is the “Fantom 509”. It is a well-armed group of former police officers and those still in service who have attacked government buildings and facilities to demand better pay and working conditions for police officers.
“Fantom 509” first emerged in 2018 when Haiti’s national police union (Syndicat de la Police Nationale d’Haïti – SPNH) protested to demand better salaries and working conditions. According to local media reports, the police union has recently distanced itself from the group.
In view of the powerlessness of the police, vigilante groups have been formed “Bwa Kale”, and consist mainly of armed civilians with improvised weapons who hunt down and kill suspected gang members and burn their bodies.
A “do-it-yourself justice” that risks giving rise to further criminal gangs, as has happened in other parts of the world. In Mexico, for example, self-defense groups have begun to fight criminal organizations, often exploiting popular support and a lack of institutional capacity, before entering into a criminal economic dimension such as extortion, arms and drug trafficking, and contract killings. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 17/2/2024)
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Publish date : 2024-02-17 03:00:00
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