Police have struck back against a feared Haitian gang leader who promised ‘civil war’, as violence in the Caribbean country showed no sign of abating.
Haiti cops conducted an operation in a neighborhood of the country’s capital – Port-au-Prince – controlled by the notorious gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, that left several criminals dead, an official said today.
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 Cherizier (pictured), that left several criminals dead, an official said today
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. Pictured: Police officers during an operation in the surrounding area of the National Penitentiary
Pictured: People queuing for food from a shelter for displaced families in Port-au-Prince
Officers also tried to regain control of the capital’s main port in another operation this morning.
The area was where gang members had looted several containers, a source at the port told AFP.
Ongoing violence has meant the port has been shut since March 7.
The attacks began earlier this month after Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed to hold general elections in mid-2025.
Armed gangs have since looted, closed the main airport and freed prison inmates – causing chaos.
Haitians have been on edge in recent days awaiting the naming of a transitional governing body meant to restore stability to the impoverished country, wracked by gang violence and largely isolated from the outside world.
Some are hoping a transitional council can fill the void left by departing Henry, who is leaving amid pressure from an offensive by gangs that control 80 percent of the capital.
Officers also tried to regain control of the capital’s main port in another operation this morning. Pictured: A protestor in the streets of Port-au-Prince
The area was where gang members had looted several containers, a source at the port told AFP. Pictured: A soldier guarding the international airport in Port-au-Prince
Ongoing violence has meant the port has been shut since March 7. Pictured: Burnt out vehicles that were previously set on fire by armed gangs
The Prime Minister resigned on March 11 but is not in the country after he travelled to Kenya last week to negotiate a UN-backed multinational police mission in an attempt to stabilise his country.
When he tried to return to Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, gang attacks stopped him from landing and he instead went to the US territory of Puerto Rico where he is now stranded.
Before the resignation, Cherizier had told reporters that the chaos would lead to a civil war.
However, many have decried the pending establishment of a transitional council, a move supported by Caribbean regional body CARICOM, the United Nations and the United States.
Cherizier threatened the families of political leaders who support the prospect of a planned transitional council.
The country has a long, brutal history of foreign interventions, from a 20-year American occupation in the early 1900s to a deadly cholera outbreak linked to a UN peacekeeping mission in the 2010s.
The Prime Minister resigned on March 11 but is not in the country after he travelled to Kenya last week to negotiate a UN-backed multinational police mission in an attempt to stabilise his country. Pictured: Jimmy Cherizier
However, many have decried the pending establishment of a transitional council, a move supported by Caribbean regional body CARICOM, the United Nations and the United States. Pictured: A protestor burning tires in Port-au-Prince
Dozens of people have died in Haiti’s recent gang attacks, including several police officers.
The violence also has left more than 15,000 people homeless, in addition to some 300,000 Haitians who lost their homes to gang wars in recent years.
Food shortages are also hitting the area and some 1.4 million Haitians are on the verge of famine, and more than 4 million require food aid according to aid groups.
‘Haiti is facing a protractive and mass hunger,’ Jean-Martin Bauer, Haiti director for the United Nation’s World Food Program said.
He noted that Croix-des-Bouquets, in the eastern part of Haiti’s capital, ‘has malnutrition rates comparable with any war zone in the world’.
Officials are trying to rush food, water and medical supplies to makeshift shelters and other places as gang violence suffocates lives across Port-au-Prince and beyond, with many trapped in their homes.
