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More than 150 gangs are active in Haiti, imposing their law on a powerless state. Most of them are located in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which they largely control. Massacres, stray bullets, kidnappings: daily Haitians are the first victims of their violence. France 24 Observers went to investigate gang abuses in Haiti and exposed them in this special report.
“My whole life went up in smoke,” said Jean Simson Desanclos, a human rights defender who lost his wife and daughters on August 20.
They were on their way to a university in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince when members of the Mawozo 400 attacked them. “The gang members wanted to kidnap them. They resisted and opened fire on them,” Desanclos continued.
The tragedy moved many Haitians, who paid tributes to the girls and their mother on social media. The day after they were killed, Prime Minister Ariel Henry took to Twitter to reaffirm his “determination to fight this crime wave.”
But reactions like Henry’s, from the highest level of government, are rare. Haitian authorities have been accused of remaining passive even as gangs commit large-scale massacres.
From April 24 to May 6, in the Cul-de-Sac plain, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, and then, from July 7 to 17, in the commune of Cité-Soleil, clashes between gangs left hundreds of dead. According to the Haitian National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH), the authorities remained “silent” and the police adopted “a non-interventionist stance.”
The ‘behind the scenes’ of our investigation
This special program was produced entirely remotely, due to the insecurity that reigned in Port-au-Prince. Journalists Chloé Lauvergnier and Maëva Poulet contacted dozens of Haitians, some of whom were already part of the France 24 Observer network.
Several of them had left the country to escape the violence. Our team was able to collect testimonials from gang victims. Most of the Haitians who agreed to speak with us wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, which is why their voices and names have been changed in the report.
Thanks to these testimonies and images published on social networks -mainly by gangs, but also by locals or the police- we reconstruct various tragic events that took place throughout the year. Witnesses also sent us their own images, including these photos of bullets:
As we depended on images circulating on social media, we had to verify the dates and locations of these photos and videos. But the usual tools we use were stretched to their limits. Google Street View, which allows digital investigative journalists to recognize streets or buildings, covers only a few spots in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
We used professional Google Earth satellite imagery and crowdsourced online mapping tools like Mapillary. We cross-check the information with local media reports and our observers to authenticate the images we find.
We were able to map the main gang territories in Port-au-Prince by cross-referencing with the police, NGOs, local media, and citizens.
Los Observadores journalists did not interview any gang members in this report. Our investigation focused on the main victims of violence: civilians. In addition, many gang leaders are wanted by national and international police forces.
Jimmy Cherizier, aka ‘Barbeque’, heads a federation of organized gangs called the ‘G9 Family and Allies’, was specifically named by the UN Security Council in a sanctions regime set up for Haiti, accused of engaging in “acts that threaten the peace, security and stability of Haiti”.
Seven gang members accused of kidnapping
On Monday, November 7, the United States charged seven gang members with kidnapping US citizens. The State Department is offering up to $3 million in rewards for information leading to the arrest of three of them: ‘400 Mawozo’ gang members Lanmo Sanjou and Jermaine Stephenson, and ‘Kraze’ gang member Vitel’homme Innocent. Barye’.
The France 24 observer team contacted the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Haitian National Police, but they have not responded to our repeated requests for interviews.
Thanks
Our team would like to thank all the Haitians who helped make this program possible, particularly by sharing their contacts and images and helping to verify the information.
Special thanks to: Emmanuel Belimaire, Kinouvel Media, Jordany Junior Verdieu, Dévelopage INFO and Jules Dieulivens.
