76 different gangs are officially registered in the country. To finance themselves, some have started kidnapping. In April, two French monks were kidnapped for 19 days and released against ransom. Ten people are kidnapped every day from the streets of PortauPrince. This climate of permanent insecurity causes a real psychosis among the French. The most powerful gang leader in the country is nicknamed “Barbecue”. His specialty: burning people alive in their homes. It brings together nine criminal organizations in the capital. We met him. This gang war is also political. A few months before the presidential elections, certain armed groups are said to be supporting the power in place and others for the opposition.
This exploitation of violence by politicians is an old story in Haiti. In the 1950s to 70s, dictator François Duvalier had his militias, the infamous Tonton Macoutes. (His son JeanClaude employed them until his fall in 1986.).
At the beginning of the 2000s, leftwing president JeanBertrand Aristide recruited henchmen to terrorize the population, the “Chimères”. For half a century, the state has been bankrupt. The 2010 earthquake did not help matters. 300,000 dead, 300,000 injured, according to the authorities. The billions in international aid have largely evaporated in corruption. New slums have been created on the heights of PortauPrince. In poor neighborhoods, gangs have gradually replaced the state. The current president, Moïse Jouvenel, governs by decree. He no longer has a Parliament.
Much of the country considers it illegitimate. Immersed in a country on the verge of chaos, where gangs rule the roost.