Haiti gangs' US terrorism designation risks harming most vulnerable, NGOs warn
PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 8 (Reuters) - The designation of Haiti's major gangs as terrorists by Washington could risk further entrenching their power by limiting financial and humanitarian aid, NGOs focused on organized crime and human rights have warned.
The United States last week designated Viv Ansanm, the armed alliance that controls most of capital Port-au-Prince, and Gran Grif, which operates in the breadbasket Artibonite region, as terrorist groups, following similar measures made recently for Latin American drug cartels.
The designation is intended to isolate the groups, denying them access to financing from U.S. people or companies.
"Terrorist designations play a critical role in our fight against these vicious groups and are an effective way to curtail support for their terrorist activities," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the time.
Analysts at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said on Thursday that the designation could, however, "inadvertently worsen the situation on the ground."
It said the move could threaten the activities of some NGOs who engage with gangs to deliver aid to communities under gang control - potentially cutting off aid and making populations even more dependent on the armed groups. International businesses could also leave Haiti to avoid the risk of falling foul of U.S. law, it added.
Haiti's Center for Analysis and Research for Human Rights earlier this week raised similar doubts, saying the move could hurt NGOs working with Haiti's most vulnerable in gang-controlled areas, already hit by frozen U.S. aid funding.
"If drastic and appropriate measures are not taken to contain the root of the problem (such as) arms trafficking from the United States and across the Haitian-Dominican border, then gang members, most of whom are social victims, could become even more radicalized," it said in its report.
An alliance of gangs has been using brutal tactics to grow its power since the 2021 assassination of Haiti's last president.
Pierre Esperance, who heads Haiti's National Network for the Defense of Human Rights, said in an interview on Tuesday that his group had long considered the gangs as terrorists.
"During 2024 they started setting people on fire while they were in their homes, they stopped them from running out and burnt them, rapes continued, kidnappings... These are terrorist acts," he said.
In a recent report, Haiti-focused security adviser Halo Solutions Firm said while nuanced enforcement could cripple gang financing, "a policy that does not distinguish between corrupt enablers and extorted survivors will risk collapsing the commercial backbone of the country."
Haiti's central bank on Wednesday warned lenders, exchange bureaus and payment services to be vigilant for exposure to operations financing terrorist groups.
More than 1,600 people were killed in violent clashes in the first three months of this year while over 1 million are internally displaced, according to U.N. estimates, with local security services backed by limited international support.
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