With his automatic weapon slung over his shoulder, Jimmy 'Barbecue' Chérizier, a former police officer who likes to present himself as a revolutionary, He heads one of the most powerful gangs in Haiti, which does not hesitate to attack key infrastructure and demand the heads of the elites.
The leader of the “G9 Family” gang alliance is one of the public figures behind the escalation of violence in recent days in the Caribbean country, devastated by a security, humanitarian and political crisis.
Haiti's armed groups, which are often divided and fight to expand their respective territories, announced last week that They joined forces against the government.
Since then they have attacked strategic places such as airports, police academies and prisonsfrom which thousands of detainees have escaped.
We must unite. Either Haiti becomes a paradise for everyone or a hell for everyone
“It is not about a small group of rich people who live in large hotels deciding the fate of the inhabitants of popular neighborhoods,” Chérizier declared Tuesday before the press, surrounded by hooded men.
“We must unite. Either Haiti becomes a paradise for everyone or a hell for everyone,” added this 46-year-old former police officer, who threatened a “civil war” if Prime Minister Ariel Henry does not resign.
It was not the first time he attracted attention. In 2022, at the head of the G9 alliance, he blocked the country's main oil terminal for months, paralyzing fuel distribution and plunging Haiti further into chaos.
This episode sparked calls for a multinational force to assist Haiti's overwhelmed police forces, a mission that has yet to be carried out.
“Burnt, dismembered bodies”
And as a sign of its influence, “Barbecue” was the first to appear in October 2022 on the list of the brand new UN sanctions regime against Haitian gangs (travel ban, asset freeze, selective arms embargo).
But, despite everything, “it continues to commit acts that threaten the peace, security and stability of Haiti”the UN committee of experts in charge of monitoring the sanctions commented in September.
Their report details the criminal activities of the various gangs that control entire swaths of the country, particularly the capital. For the “G9 Family” and its more than 1,000 members, mostly former police officers, former security guards and street children, the list is long: murders, robberies, extortions, rapes, selective murders, drug trafficking, kidnappings, arson, among others.
These experts also point to Barbecue's involvement in the “Saline massacre”, which occurred in 2018 in Port-au-Prince, which left 71 dead in a few days in the neighborhood of that name.
The gangs, sometimes used by authorities to quell protests in popular neighborhoods, “took victims, including children, from their homes to burn them, dismember them, and feed them to animals,” the US Treasury Department described in late 2020. , when he decided to sanction Chérizier.
Gangs took victims, including children, from their homes to burn them, dismember them and feed them to animals
According to the same source, The gang leader received the support of two senior officials in the government of President Jovenel Moïsemurdered in July 2021 in Port-au-Prince.
Barbecue, a fan of posting videos on social networks, rejects the accusations against him. “I am not a gangster, I will never be a gangster,” he declared in 2021 during an interview with the Al Jazeera channel, to which he said that he fights “for another society.”
Another police station set on fire
The armed gangs that control much of Haiti's capital set fire to a new police post this Wednesday nightin a new episode of gang violence that plagues the small Caribbean country.
The police substation attacked is located in Bas-Peu-de-Chose, in a neighborhood of Port-au-Prince that frequently suffers attacks by gangs, Lionel Lazarre, general coordinator of the Haitian police union Synapoha, told AFP.
The officers at the post had time to leave the building before the attack, said this officer, who assured that the assault had been planned since last weekend.
The gangs also set fire to a police vehicle and several motorcycles.
AFP
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