Gunfire Erupts In Haiti As Gangs Frighten Nation

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Worthy News) – The sound of gunfire echoed throughout Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, on Thursday, with well-armed groups saying they wanted to topple Prime Minister Ariel Henry, an unpopular leader.

Henry, who was never elected, had been appointed prime minister by President Jovenel Moise in 2021, shortly before Moise was assassinated. Henry repeatedly postponed ballots, adding to anger.

To restore calm, Henry, stranded in Puerto Rico, released a video Monday pledging to resign when a transition council and temporary leader were chosen.

His announcement apparently contributed to three days of relative quietness in the troubled Caribbean nation following weeks of clashes.

Yet on Thursday, armed men once again roamed the streets of Port-au-Prince, which is 80 percent controlled by gangs, who are said to have raped and killed many people.

Witnesses say bodies have littered the streets in recent days as social order melted away.

Just outside Port-au-Prince, “bandits looted and then set fire to the residence of the director general of police” in Santo, the national police union said, adding that an officer was shot and wounded in the courtyard of police headquarters near the airport.

SHOTS HEARD

Shots were also heard elsewhere Thursday, including near the closed Toussaint Louverture Airport, where repairs were underway after gangs attacked it and other critical infrastructure earlier this month.

As clashes escalated Thursday, Haitian authorities extended a nighttime curfew until Sunday.

Amid the violence, a powerful gang leader in Haiti issued a threatening message warning political leaders who would participate in a planned transition council.

The remarks from gang alliance chief Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier were part of a rambling seven-minute audio message shared Thursday on social messaging platform WhatsApp.

“Don’t you have any shame?” wondered Cherizier, referring to politicians he said were looking to join the council. “You have taken the country where it is today. You have no idea what will happen,” he added.

“I’ll know if your kids are in Haiti if your wives are in Haiti… if your husbands are in Haiti,” the gang chief warned in an apparent threat to their families. “If you’re gonna run the country, all your family ought to be there.”

Cherizier stressed that the resignation of Henry was only “a first step in the battle” for the island nation of around 11 million that he apparently wanted to lead.

BARBEQUE NAME

Some claim that the rifle-wielding 47-year-old’s nickname “Barbeque” comes from his penchant for setting his victims on fire.

The nickname of Haiti’s chief gang leader has contributed to allegations by rightwing commentators on social media that he and others were involved in cannibalism, but critics said there is no evidence of such claims.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has one of the most giant megaphones on social media, with 176.1 million followers on platform X, said he wants to “screen immigrants for potential homicidal tendencies and cannibalism.”

In a separate reply, he shared a video purporting to show cannibalism, but X, formerly known as Twitter, later removed the footage for violating its guidelines.

The accusations of widespread cannibalism were based on what experts said was a likely intimidation tactic from select gang members.

In some videos, the most prominent examples being at least two years old, alleged members of violent gangs in Haiti appear to bite into human flesh.

Broadcaster NBC News quoted experts as saying that these videos are likely part of “propaganda campaigns” to scare rivals and terrorize local Haitians rather than a reflection of common or normalized behavior. One former armed group went by the name “Cannibal Army.”

MANY DISPLACED

Yet hundreds of thousands of ordinary Haitians, including Christians, have been displaced by the deadly violence with nowhere to go.

Witnesses said Thursday that the Dajabón border crossing between the Dominican Republic and Haiti showed a constant stream of trucks carrying Haitian migrants, who are being deported back to their home country.

The country’s president, Luis Abinader, has ruled out accepting “refugee camps” on Dominican soil. Last month, Abinader told the United Nations Security Council in New York that the international community must increase aid to Haiti and deploy a multinational force there.

He urged the U.N. to “fight together to save Haiti” but warned that if no help were forthcoming, his country would “fight alone to protect the Dominican Republic.”

Unlike the Haitians they left behind, Germany’s ambassador to Haiti, along with other European Union representatives, managed to enter the Dominican Republic in recent days, the German foreign ministry confirmed.

Earlier, the United States had already airlifted what it called “non-essential embassy staff” from Haiti and boosted security at their mission in Port-au-Prince.

U.S. cruise operator Royal Caribbean said it paused stops in Labadee, on Haiti’s northern coast and far from Port-au-Prince, “out of an abundance of caution.”

It also remained unclear why tourists would be prepared to enjoy themselves in this wounded nation where hundreds of thousands have reportedly died in previous earthquakes as well as in ongoing gang violence.

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