Haiti capital on edge after gang leader issues threat

A man waves a Haitian flag on Nov. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)

Street activity in the capital of violence-wracked Haiti slowed to a trickle Monday, after powerful gangs threatened action in response to a deadly police operation.

Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherisier, the UN-sanctioned leader of a gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm (Living Together), urged residents to stay home, warning in a social media video over the weekend that his men would “take to the streets to confront law enforcement.”

The threat was widely heeded by the population of Port-au-Prince, where marauding gangs control most of the city.

Schools remained closed Monday, and public transportation was scarce on the city’s streets, an AFP journalist witnessed.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has long suffered from violence from criminal gangs, which commit murders, rapes, looting, and kidnappings in the vacuum of chronic political instability.

In response to threats from Viv Ansanm, Haiti’s general police directorate has cancelled leave for its officers until further notice.

The United Nations recommended that all of its staff continue to work remotely, according to an internal message reviewed by AFP.

The French embassy, meanwhile, announced it would remain closed, and the U.S. embassy urged its employees to work from home.

The gang coalition issued the threat after a police operation on Friday left seven suspected gang members dead in a suburban Port-au-Prince stronghold of the powerful 400 Mawozo gang.

During the operation, law enforcement were forced to destroy a support helicopter to prevent it from falling into the hands of criminal groups, according to Haitian authorities.

The situation in Haiti has deteriorated significantly since the beginning of 2024, when gangs forced the then-prime minister Ariel Henry to resign.

The country, which has not held elections since 2016, has since been governed by a transitional presidential council that has failed to curb the violence.