Revolution in Haiti (Consolidated thread)

[ExquisiteGerbil]

Gangs Burn Down Home of Haitian National Police Chief

FRANCES MARTEL
15 Mar 2024

Unknown assailants believed to be affiliated with the nation’s out-of-control criminal gang network reportedly looted and burned down the home of the director-general of the Haitian National Police, Frantz Elbe, on Thursday.

Elbe’s home was reportedly one of several targets of terrorist assaults by the gangs on Thursday in a resurgence of gang violence after a modest period of calm on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The gangs have largely taken over the country following the departure of Prime Minister Ariel Henry for a visit to Kenya at the beginning of the month, in which he asked the country to send police officers to help Haiti’s depleted law enforcement resources combat the threat of the gangs. Henry, unelected and with seemingly no public support, has, in effect, run the country since the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in his home in 2021. Following his flight out of Haiti, the G9 and Family gang syndicate, led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, launched an assault in which it freed 4,000 prison inmates and surrounded the Port-au-Prince airport, making it impossible for Henry to return.

Henry is stranded in Puerto Rico at press time and announced plans to resign on Monday. Henry insisted that he would not formally vacate the position until his country established a “Transitional Presidential Council,” backed by the international community, tasked with choosing a new prime minister and organizing elections.

As of Thursday, the “Presidential Council” has chosen six of its seven prospective members. The Council plan is not especially popular in Haiti, however, and faces significant opposition – notably from Cherizier, who issued threats on Thursday against the families of anyone participating in the Council or materially supporting it. Another influential opponent of the Council is Guy Philippe, a gang-affiliated political leader precluded from joining the Council due to having been convicted on money laundering charges in the United States. President Joe Biden’s administration freed Philippe in September, allowing him to return to Haiti and vie for power.

Haiti remains unsafe for Henry to return and the few people in leadership positions left in the country are also under siege. On Thursday, “armed individuals” attacked the home of Elbe, the police chief, reportedly looting the premises before setting it on fire. Elbe and his family were reportedly not there, as they had long faced threats to their person.

Henry appointed Elbe police chief in October 2021 as one of his first acts to attempt to secure order in the country following the killing of Moïse. Elbe appears to have prioritized reaching out to the United Nations, America, and other foreign countries for support for his police officers, including the organization of a security plan to keep the gangs from overrunning the country.

An unidentified source familiar with the situation told the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste on Thursday that the assault was “the culmination of a series of slanders, verbal attacks on social networks, and in the press carried out against the director-general with political motivations.” The newspaper did not identify anyone potentially involved in the alleged defamation campaign against Elbe, but Cherizier had named him as an alleged elitist opponent to his uprising, which the gang leader has openly described as a “bloody revolution.”

Cherizier threatened “genocide” last week if Henry did not resign from his position, but told ABC News that removing Henry would not end the rampant violence.

“The first step is to overthrow Ariel Henry and then we will start the real fight against the current system, the system of corrupt oligarchs and corrupt traditional politicians,” he explained. “Not only are we fighting against Ariel Henry, but we are also fighting against everyone who has some complicity.”

Cherizier again threatened Haiti’s political elite on Thursday, asserting, “I’ll know if your kids are in Haiti, if your wives are in Haiti.”

“Don’t you have any shame? You have taken the country where it is today. You have no idea what will happen,” Cherizier bellowed in a video message.

In a separate message this week, Cherizier said his gangs planned to capture Elbe.

Le Nouvelliste documented over a dozen attacks on police stations since February 29 and multiple attacks on prisons intended to free inmates. Some reports suggest that the prison attacks were so successful that the national penitentiary witnessed the escape of 90 percent of its inmates.

The national prison was in flames on Thursday, as well, under unclear circumstances.

“According to some information, the few prisoners present inside the establishment were quickly evacuated and sensitive documents preserved,” the local outlet Haiti24 reported.


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[maybetoday]

HAITI HELL: Police Strikes at Gang Rebels After Leader ‘Barbecue’ Calls for a Revolution Against Political Elites

By Paul Serran Mar. 18, 2024 3:20 pm



The violence in Haiti continues to rage, as the country now seems divided between the political players jockeying for unelected political power in the ‘transition council’ that was proposed by the CARICOM Caribbean regional leaders and the gang rebels that control as much as 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince.



A lot of the action seems to concentrate around former police officer and gang rebel leader Jimmy Chérizier, a.k.a. Barbecue.



After Chérizier called for a revolution against the Haitian elite and threatened politicians that participated in the ‘transition council’, the Haitian police reorganized itself and attacked the gang with a big operation on his controlled territory.



‘Barbecue’ rejected foreign solutions ‘for an electoral road map and a path to peace’.



Al Jazeera reported:



“We’re not going to recognize the decisions that CARICOM takes. I’m going to say to the traditional politicians that are sitting down with CARICOM, since they went with their families abroad, we who stayed in Haiti have to take the decisions. It’s not just people with guns who’ve damaged the country but the politicians too.”



Chérizier is under sanctions from the United Nations, the US, and other countries. A couple of weeks ago, he warned that Haiti faced the prospect of ‘civil war’ if unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry did not step down.







But looting and street battles continue unabated after Henry’s resignation.



While political players are vying for council positions, Chérizier wants a revolution.



“’Now our fight will enter another phase – to overthrow the whole system, the system that is five percent of people who control 95 percent of the country’s wealth’, he told Al Jazeera.”



Police have struck back and conducted an operation in a neighborhood of Port-au-Prince controlled by Chérizier, in an action that reportedly left several criminals dead.



Daily Mail reported:



“National police units entered the Delmas neighborhood on Friday evening with the aim of unblocking a road, said Lionel Lazarre of the Haitian police union.



He said several ‘bandits’ were killed but did not provide any more detail.



Haiti cops conducted an operation in a neighborhood of the country’s capital – Port-au-Prince – controlled by the notorious gang leader Jimmy Chérizier, that left several criminals dead, an official said today”



In another operation this morning, Police officer also tried to regain control of the capital’s main port, that has been shut since March 7.



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[Midnight]

HAITI HELL: International Community Backs Unelected Transitional Council – Gangs Kill 12 in Rich Neighborhoods of the Capital – Kenya Hesitates To Send UN Peacekeeping Troops

By Paul Serran
Mar. 20, 2024 4:00 pm




There are two Haitis.



On the real-life, street-level Haiti, the news is that heavily armed gang rebels ‘escalated’ their attacks into upscale neighborhoods in Haiti’s capital that unsurprisingly had been left untouched until now.



This follows the threat issued by Gang Rebel leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier against the country’s upper class, as you can read on HAITI HELL: Police Strikes at Gang Rebels After Leader ‘Barbecue’ Calls for a Revolution Against Political Elites.



The early Monday rampage left a dozen people dead after Gunmen looted homes in the communities of Laboule and Thomassin before sunrise.



On the international stratosphere of political power, there is an altogether different Haiti.



One in which well fed and sharply dressed political leaders are now deciding who gets to have unelected ‘transitional’ political power over the country.



Caribbean leaders (CARICOM) have announced that all but one political parties have submitted nominees for ‘a transitional presidential council’.



This unelected group of appointees will be charged with selecting an interim prime minister for Haiti.


Outgoing PM Henry can’t even return to the country, but will have political voice in the proposed council. ‘Barbecue’ controls 80 per cent of the capital, but will not.

Former senator and presidential candidate Jean-Charles Moïse declined a seat and allied himself with Guy Philippe, a former police official and rebel leader, just released from prison in the U.S. after doing time for money laundering.



Associated Press reported:



“The Dec. 21 group, which is allied with Prime Minister Ariel Henry, was one of the last holdouts, submitting a name Monday to the regional trade group known as Caricom. Its nomination had been delayed by infighting as group leaders bickered over potential candidates.”



Yes, you read it right. The MIA former PM Ariel Henry will have a say in things from out of Haiti



The U.N.-backed deployment of a Kenyan police force has been delayed, if not outright scrapped.



Why? Because the East African Country is worried about the other Haiti, not the politicians’ fictional one.



U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq: ‘Kenya has concerns about the makeup of the government on the ground‘.



“’We certainly hope that they will be able to deploy as quickly as possible’, he said. ‘But they have their concerns. And for our part, what we want to make sure is that the transitional government arrangements can be implemented’.”


Kenya worries about the real Haiti, and may not send UN troops.


Before violence reached the rich areas of Port-au-Prince, Rebel Gangs have torched police stations, shut down the main international airport and the main port, stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons and released more than 4,000 inmates.



“’We are very concerned about the violence’, said Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, who is also the CARICOM chairman.”



It’s not reassuring that the Chairman has its own war to worry about, because Venezuela is breathing down’s Guyana’s neck over oil-rich Essequibo region.



Ali said ‘time was of essence’.



“’We have been having continuous meetings almost every night, because the Haitians have to get the presidential council in place’, he said. ‘Progress has been made’.”



The council will appointing a PM, a council of ministers, a provisional electoral council and a national security council.



But so precarious is the situation that Caricom officials haven’t released the full list of names nominated to the council, lest it turned into a ‘hit list’.



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[ExquisiteGerbil]

HAITI HELL: Jimmy Barbecue Chérizier Wants in on Political Negotiations – Rebel Gangs Control 80% of Capital Port-Au-Prince

By Paul Serran Mar. 30, 2024 5:40 pm



While the Caribbean leaders of the CARICOM and the Haitian political power brokers negotiate the formation of an unelected Transition Council that will have political power to appoint the new Prime Minister and cabinet for the chaotic and violence-stricken nation, one is left wondering: what about the armed men who actually control the situation?



In a scenario where 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, is controlled by the gang rebels, just calling them common criminals and trying to dismiss them will not work on the ground.



The head of the allied rebel gangs has said that he would only consider a ceasefire if talks on the political future of the country included his faction.



Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier predicted that more violence is imminent and that the worse is still to come.



As for the CARICOM trying to form a transitional council, he dismissed the process as not representative of the needs of the ordinary people.



He considers it a smokescreen to allow corrupt politicians and oligarchs to continue running the country.







Sky News reported:



“‘If the international community comes with a detailed plan where we can sit together and talk, but they do not impose on us what we should decide, I think that the weapons could be lowered’, he added.



‘We don’t believe in killing people and massacring people, we believe in dialogue, we have weapons in our hand and it’s with the weapons that we must liberate this country’.”



Barbecue sees himself not as a simple criminal, but as a revolutionary for the people.



“We believe in dialogue, we are for dialogue, but this political class that is here now is not here for dialogue, the reason is that they don’t carry Haiti in their hearts the same way that we do.



The political class say they are excluding bandits, that men with guns are not in it, but this is a way for them to revive the same system, because the system has reached its end. The divide between rich and poor is too vast, in the whole world there is a divide between rich and poor, but the way it’s done in Haiti is indecent.”



He says he is open to some form of negotiations as long as they’re represented.



“We are ready for all solutions as long as Haitians are at the table, we are ready to sit and talk with everyone, because we are not proud of what is happening in this country…”



Talk about dialogue has been going on for more than two or three years, he says – ‘the weapons will be lowered when they need to be lowered’.



Read more:  HAITI HELL: Political Elites Ready To Form Unelected ‘Transition Council’ While Police and Militias Launch ‘Decapitation Strikes’ Killing Rebel Gang Leaders

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Canada Sends 70 Troops to Jamaica to Train Caribbean Forces for Haiti Intervention

JOHN HAYWARD
1 Apr 2024

The Canadian Defense Ministry said on Saturday it dispatched about 70 of its troops to Jamaica to train forces from various Caribbean nations for a prospective U.N.-authorized military intervention in Haiti.



“The Canadian personnel being deployed are drawn primarily from the 1st Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment from Valcartier, Quebec,” the Defense Ministry said.



“Their deployment will last for an initial period of approximately one month. Canadian Armed Forces expects to train approximately 330 CARICOM [Carribbean Community] troops from Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas,” the ministry added.



Hailing from Quebec could be an advantage for Canadian troops sent to Haiti, as French is spoken in both places, although this would seem less relevant if the Canadians are going to remain stationed in Jamaica as trainers.



The Defense Ministry said the training operation has been dubbed “Operation HELIOS” and will include “training on core peacekeeping skills and combat first aid” for Caribbean forces, along with “validation and integration exercises.”



The training will be conducted at the Canadian Armed Forces’ Operation Support Hub (OSH) in Kingston, Jamaica. The OSH, which Canada takes pains to portray as something less than a “military base,” is one of four such facilities worldwide. The other three are located in Germany, Kuwait, and Senegal.



In addition to these training services, Canada has pledged $80.5 million to support a Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti. Kenyan police were supposed to lead the mission, but Kenyan courts have stymied the plan by ruling that President William Ruto lacks the constitutional authority to send police officers overseas.



The intervention plan is also unpopular with the Kenyan people, and the political opposition has vowed to block any move to send troops to Haiti with lawsuits, but the Canadian Defense Ministry statement assumed the “Kenyan-led MSS mission” will still take place.



Canada’s CBC News said the 70 instructors departed for Jamaica on Friday. Roughly 3,000 Canadians were registered to be in Haiti when a gang revolt broke out in March, trapping Prime Minister Ariel Henry outside the country as bloody chaos filled the streets. Hundreds of murders, kidnappings, and other atrocities have been reported since then.


A protester burns tires during a demonstration following the resignation of its Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 12, 2024. A political transition deal in Haiti marks a key step forward for the violence-ravaged country but far more needs to be done, with some experts warning the situation could deteriorate further. (CLARENS SIFFROY/AFP via Getty)

A protester burns tires during a demonstration following the resignation of its Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 12, 2024. (CLARENS SIFFROY/AFP via Getty)



CBC News observed:



A very small number of RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] officers are deployed to Haiti now, mostly in training roles. Their number fluctuates; the terms of the deployment allow for up to 45 Mounties to be in Haiti at a time, but their current complement numbers in the single digits.



It is unclear how much a force of 330 Caribbean and Kenyan troops could do to restore order in Haiti, where heavily armed gangs fill the streets of Port-au-Prince and hold entire rural communities hostage.



The UK Guardian reported on Monday that the situation in Haiti remains unstable and might be getting worse, as the gangsters are migrating into “places long considered oases of calm.”



Some observers believe the gangs are trying to intimidate prestigious and influential Haitians out of joining the “transitional council” that is supposed to replace Henry with an interim government. The gangsters are posing as “revolutionaries” seeking to save the Haitian people from the depredations of their corrupt political elites.


“The vacuum of governance in Haiti has left everybody scrambling for power and domination. I think that’s what we’re seeing right now,” American journalist Amy Wilentz told the Guardian.



Wilentz said that the flood of internally displaced Haitians and the steady trickle of foreigners looking for ways out of the country suggest that no one really expects a Kenyan-led multinational force to swoop in and recapture Port-au-Prince from the gangs.



“It’s a siege, it’s a war. And when people are in that kind of desperate situation, they tend to pick themselves up and go to the nearest coastline. And then they get on boats and they die in great numbers in the water,” she said.



Some Haitians are still trying to take matters into their own hands by forming vigilante squads. The Associated Press (AP) reported on Saturday that a machete-wielding mob in the provincial city of Mirebalais seized two men from police custody and hacked them to death because the mob believed they were buying guns and ammunition for the gangs.



“Police confirmed the crowd snatched the men from police custody after they were found with about $20,000 and the equivalent of about $43,000 in Haitian cash in their car, along with two pistols and a box of ammunition,” the AP said.


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[maybetoday]

HAITI HELL: As Gangs Seize Control of Another Police Station, Haitians Call for Dismissal and Arrest of Police Chief
by Paul Serran May. 13, 2024 2:20 pm

The appointment of the new Transition Council has not made any difference on the ground in the chaotic Caribbean nation of Haiti, even if the members seem to have stopped bickering and made a power sharing agreement.

In fact, as the heavily armed rebel gangs launched another attack in the capital Port-au-Prince, and seized control of yet another police station on Saturday (11), calls have arisen by civilians and police officers demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti’s police chief.

Armed rebels allegedly attacked the Gressier community, burning cars and attacking homes, leaving a trail of wounded and sending hundreds of people fleeing into the mountains.

Associated Press reported:

“Videos posted on social media showed people fleeing into the early dawn balancing bags and suitcases on their heads as men clad in sandals and carrying heavy weapons celebrated with gunfire. ‘The town is ours’, said one man who filmed himself with others who were armed, noting they were in Gressier. ‘We have no limits’.”

Frantz Elbé, the director of Haiti’s National Police, has become a target for outrage, described as incapable and incompetent.

As Police continue to lose their stations with equipment, many have accused Elbé and other high-ranking officials of being complicit with the gangs.

“The Grand Ravine gang has some 300 members and is accused of killings, kidnappings, rapes and other crimes.

Those fleeing Gressier now join more than 360,000 other Haitians who have been forced to abandon their homes as gangs raze communities in rival territories to control more land. Tens of thousands of Haitians have squeezed into squalid, makeshift shelters, including schools and government buildings abandoned due to gang violence.”

Read: HAITI HELL: Unelected ‘Transitional Council’ Chooses Second Interim PM in a Week, Gang Rebels Demand Political Participation

It was on February 29th that gangs launched coordinated attacks unleashing a horrifying season of violence.

Rebel Gunmen have burned police stations, had both the airport and the sea port shuttered and raided Haiti’s two biggest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.

“Veteran politician André Michel wrote on the social media platform X that the most recent attack targeting Gressier shows ‘Haiti will not be able to get out from under the gangs without an international force. We will not be able to secure the country ourselves’.

A U.N.-backed deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti has been repeatedly delayed, although some believe the first officers might arrive in late May.”

Read more at the link

[maybetoday]

US Missionaries Slaughtered in Haiti, Ambushed by 3 Truck Loads of Gang Members - Biden Silent So Far

By Jack Davis

May 24, 2024 at 10:50am

Three missionaries, including two Americans from Oklahoma, were killed Thursday night in Haiti.

All three were members of Missions in Haiti, which operates a school, two churches and a children’s home in Port-au-Prince, according to The New York Times.

David Lloyd III, 23; his wife, Natalie Lloyd, 21; and the organization’s Haitian director, Jude Montis, 20, were shot to death in a gang attack.

David Lloyd was the son of the couple who founded Missions in Haiti in 2000 — David and Alicia Lloyd.

Natalie Lloyd was the daughter of Missouri Republican state Rep. Ben Baker.

“My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain,” Baker said in a Facebook post.

“They went to Heaven together,” he said.

“Please pray for my family we desperately need strength,” Baker said. “And please pray for the Lloyd family as well. I have no other words for now.”

Missions in Haiti wrote about the incident on its Facebook page.

“Davy and Natalie and Jude were shot and killed by the gang about 9 o’clock this evening,” the group said. “We all are devastated.”

In a previous post, it explained what it knew of the circumstances and asked for “urgent prayer.”

“This evening when Davy, Natalie and the kids were coming out of Youth at the church they were ambushed by a gang of 3 trucks full of guys,” the Christian mission said. “Davy was taken to the house tied up and beat. The gang then took our trucks and loaded everything up they wanted and left.

“Another gang came after to see what was going on and if they could help, so they say. No one understood what they were doing, not sure what took place but one was shot and killed and now this gang went into full attack mode.

“Davy, Natalie and Jude was in my house at the end of the property using the star link internet to call me. So they are holed up in there, the gangs has shot all the windows out of the house and continue to shoot. Their lives are in danger.

The post said efforts were underway to get a police response Thursday night.

Haiti has been steadily careening into deeper and deeper chaos that gathered speed after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Hours before the missionaries were killed, President Joe Biden, who has faced criticism for doing too little to address the chaos, said his support for having Kenyan troops try to restore order there was enough.

“There’s a lot going on in this hemisphere, and we’re in a situation where we want to do all we can without us looking like America once again is stepping over, deciding this is what must be done,” Biden said, according to USA Today.

“Haitians are looking for help as well as the folks in the Caribbean are looking for help. And so, we checked out with a number of other countries,” said the president, who had no immediate comment Friday on the deaths of the missionaries.

“I’m just at a total loss,” David Lloyd said of his son’s death, according to the Miami Herald. “I’m just in total shock. I haven’t grieved. I haven’t done anything else. I haven’t eaten. I can’t think.”

He said he was on the phone with David Lloyd III moments before the killings.

“I was on the phone with my son when that was going down. He said, ‘Dad, we got a commotion again. I’ve got to go see what’s going on,'” Lloyd said.

“They eventually got into the house and killed all three of them and set their bodies on fire,” he said.

David Lloyd said of his son, “Creole is his first language and Haiti has his heart.”

He recalled the young man telling girls, “Don’t even talk to me if you’re not willing to live in Haiti the rest of your life, ’cause that’s my home.”

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