Latest news with #FritzAlphonseJean
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
U.S., Caribbean community condemn plans by gangs, allies to overthrow Haiti government
The U.S. State Department and the Caribbean Community are condemning looming threats by a powerful gang coalition in Haiti to escalate violence against residents in an effort to overthrow the country's transitional government. 'This is completely unacceptable,' the 15-member Caribbean Community regional bloc known as CARICOM said late Sunday, adding that the bloc 'strongly condemns any attempt to replace the transitional arrangements by force and violence.' State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, in a statement soon after, said 'the United States supports the statement by CARICOM condemning any actions to destabilize Haiti's Transitional Presidential Council,' and continues to 'consult with governments across the region.' Both statements came amid imminent threats to the ruling transition amid concerns gangs and their allies are plotting an overthrow. Over the weekend, panic and anxiety across Haiti were high as residents feared vulnerable communities were next to be targeted. The nine-member council was formed a year ago to help restore security and return the country to democracy with elections. However, members have struggled amid the increasing attacks by gangs and their own governing challenges. Amid the political turmoil, the powerful Viv Ansanm gang coalition has been launching simultaneous operations in multiple locations far away from gangs stronghold. Their latest takeover of the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti has raised panic and underscored that no area of the country is immune. Since coming together under the coalitions, gangs have proven themselves to be more mobile and more coordinated, carrying out military-style ambushes far away from their strongholds . On Saturday the head of Haiti's ruling presidential council, Fritz Alphonse Jean, spoke with CARICOM's chairwoman, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who then reached out to the State Department. Haiti is a member of the bloc, which has been increasingly concerned about the worsening violence that has displaced over 1 million people and the lack of financial support for the Kenya-led Security Support Mission to Haiti. Looming threats about multiple armed attacks planned for the coming days had local authorities around the country sounding the alarm on Saturday. In the south, the region's top police official, Daniel Compère, issued a letter to his boss in the capital asking for police reinforcements due to reports that former coup leader and convicted U.S. felon Guy Philippe was reportedly preparing an armed attack against the prison in the city of Les Cayes. Philippe later denied being involved in any planned attack against the city, which was battling heavy floods on Sunday. In the center of the country, where armed gangs are now in control of the city of Mirebalais after storming the rural town late last month, authorities issued pleas for both the neighboring city of Hinche and the Péligre dam. The dam is the country's largest producer of electricity. Videos circulated by gang leaders on social media warned of a pending attack against Hinche. Another showed scared Haitians inside a church in the town of Mirebalais listening as the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang demanded they return to their homes. The attack in the rural town has left one journalist missing, and the 350-bed University Hospital of Mirebalais, a lifeline for the area, forced to evacuate all its staff and patients. In a statement, Boston-based Partners In Health, which operates the hospital, said the violence is unacceptable. 'While these brutal attacks have forced us to pause services at [the hospital] due to the unacceptable risk they pose for our staff and patients, we will reopen the hospital as soon as it is safe to do so,' said Dr. Sheila Davis, CEO of Partners In Health. 'No matter how daunting the challenges of this particular moment have seemed, our Haitian colleagues have never wavered or indulged in the luxury of pessimism, and I couldn't be more proud to say that our organization will continue to stand with the people of Haiti today, tomorrow, and long into the future.' Haitian police and the Kenya-led force have struggled to battle back gangs and to keep more territory from falling into their grasp. Since the beginning of the year, more cities and neighborhoods have fallen to gangs, which are now in control of up to 90% of the capital. In a press note, deputy police spokesman Lionel Lazarre announced an investigation into an incident involving several Haitian police assigned to the Kenscoff area. Over Friday and Saturday the officers abandoned their posts along with their uniforms, vehicles and weapons after gang leaders reportedly sent women to trap them by luring them to two houses where they were spending the night. The officers, members of specialized units assigned to patrol a sensitive area in Kenscoff, were later attacked by gang members while in the houses. Five officers were injured. Gang members later boasted about their loot in a video circulating on social networks. They showed off bulletproof vests, rifles, ammunition and even the ID cards of the officers. Gangs also confiscated tear gas and grenades and identity documents belonging to the cops. Lazarre said police are searching was on for a woman with connections to the gangs who was said to have been used to lure the men. The Inspector General of the Police has also opened an investigation into the officers' behavior. CARICOM said in its statement that 'increased violence will simply hurt those who are least capable of protecting themselves. This too is completely unacceptable.' The group urged 'the international community, including the United Nations and the Organization of American States, to take all necessary steps to support the Haitian authorities as they address this crisis.'
Miami Herald
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
U.S., Caribbean community condemn plans by gangs, allies to overthrow Haiti government
The U.S. State Department and the Caribbean Community are condemning looming threats by a powerful gang coalition in Haiti to escalate violence against residents in an effort to overthrow the country's transitional government. 'This is completely unacceptable,' the 15-member Caribbean Community regional bloc known as CARICOM said late Sunday, adding that the bloc 'strongly condemns any attempt to replace the transitional arrangements by force and violence.' State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, in a statement soon after, said 'the United States supports the statement by CARICOM condemning any actions to destabilize Haiti's Transitional Presidential Council,' and continues to 'consult with governments across the region.' Both statements came amid imminent threats to the ruling transition amid concerns gangs and their allies are plotting an overthrow. Over the weekend, panic and anxiety across Haiti were high as residents feared vulnerable communities were next to be targeted. The nine-member council was formed a year ago to help restore security and return the country to democracy with elections. However, members have struggled amid the increasing attacks by gangs and their own governing challenges. Amid the political turmoil, the powerful Viv Ansanm gang coalition has been launching simultaneous operations in multiple locations far away from gangs stronghold. Their latest takeover of the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti has raised panic and underscored that no area of the country is immune. Since coming together under the coalitions, gangs have proven themselves to be more mobile and more coordinated, carrying out military-style ambushes far away from their strongholds . On Saturday the head of Haiti's ruling presidential council, Fritz Alphonse Jean, spoke with CARICOM's chairwoman, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who then reached out to the State Department. Haiti is a member of the bloc, which has been increasingly concerned about the worsening violence that has displaced over 1 million people and the lack of financial support for the Kenya-led Security Support Mission to Haiti. Looming threats about multiple armed attacks planned for the coming days had local authorities around the country sounding the alarm on Saturday. In the south, the region's top police official, Daniel Compère, issued a letter to his boss in the capital asking for police reinforcements due to reports that former coup leader and convicted U.S. felon Guy Philippe was reportedly preparing an armed attack against the prison in the city of Les Cayes. Philippe later denied being involved in any planned attack against the city, which was battling heavy floods on Sunday. In the center of the country, where armed gangs are now in control of the city of Mirebalais after storming the rural town late last month, authorities issued pleas for both the neighboring city of Hinche and the Péligre dam. The dam is the country's largest producer of electricity. Videos circulated by gang leaders on social media warned of a pending attack against Hinche. Another showed scared Haitians inside a church in the town of Mirebalais listening as the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang demanded they return to their homes. The attack in the rural town has left one journalist missing, and the 350-bed University Hospital of Mirebalais, a lifeline for the area, forced to evacuate all its staff and patients. In a statement, Boston-based Partners In Health, which operates the hospital, said the violence is unacceptable. 'While these brutal attacks have forced us to pause services at [the hospital] due to the unacceptable risk they pose for our staff and patients, we will reopen the hospital as soon as it is safe to do so,' said Dr. Sheila Davis, CEO of Partners In Health. 'No matter how daunting the challenges of this particular moment have seemed, our Haitian colleagues have never wavered or indulged in the luxury of pessimism, and I couldn't be more proud to say that our organization will continue to stand with the people of Haiti today, tomorrow, and long into the future.' Haitian police and the Kenya-led force have struggled to battle back gangs and to keep more territory from falling into their grasp. Since the beginning of the year, more cities and neighborhoods have fallen to gangs, which are now in control of up to 90% of the capital. In a press note, deputy police spokesman Lionel Lazarre announced an investigation into an incident involving several Haitian police assigned to the Kenscoff area. Over Friday and Saturday the officers abandoned their posts along with their uniforms, vehicles and weapons after gang leaders reportedly sent women to trap them by luring them to two houses where they were spending the night. The officers, members of specialized units assigned to patrol a sensitive area in Kenscoff, were later attacked by gang members while in the houses. Five officers were injured. Gang members later boasted about their loot in a video circulating on social networks. They showed off bulletproof vests, rifles, ammunition and even the ID cards of the officers. Gangs also confiscated tear gas and grenades and identity documents belonging to the cops. Lazarre said police are searching was on for a woman with connections to the gangs who was said to have been used to lure the men. The Inspector General of the Police has also opened an investigation into the officers' behavior. CARICOM said in its statement that 'increased violence will simply hurt those who are least capable of protecting themselves. This too is completely unacceptable.' The group urged 'the international community, including the United Nations and the Organization of American States, to take all necessary steps to support the Haitian authorities as they address this crisis.'
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Haiti human rights groups criticize plan to tap members of rogue force to fight gangs
Human-rights groups are pushing back against a proposal by Haiti authorities to enlist members of a rogue force into the fight against a powerful gang alliance carrying out a deadly siege in three of the country's 10 regional departments. 'It's scandalous,' said Samuel Madistin, an attorney and president of the Fondasyon Je Klere/ Eyes Wide Open Foundation. 'If they want to expand the ranks of the security forces they need to recruit for the army and the police, not from an armed gang.' The plan to enlist members of the Brigade for the Security of Protected Areas was made public on Thursday in a national address by the head of Haiti's ruling Transitional Presidential Council, Fritz Alphonse Jean. The brigade, which is part of the Ministry of Environment, is supposed to be in charge of protecting Haiti's natural resources. But since its founding in 2017, it has been a controversial force implicated in criminal activities, human rights abuses and last year in an attempt to topple the government of then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry. 'It's grave, it's dangerous,' Pierre Esperance of the National Human Rights Defense Network said. The brigade, he added, 'is not a structured corps and the environmental ministry has never had control' over them. 'A lot of them are in gangs,' he said. 'If they want to expand the security forces then the government needs to accelerate recruitment and training.' The move to tap the brigade comes as gangs continue to force people to flee their homes, set fire to houses and businesses and burn armored troop carriers from Haitian police and the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission. As they continue to tighten their grip on Port-au-Prince, the gangs have also moved north to capture more territories. On Friday, members of a self-defense group joined police and the Kenya-led mission in the central Haitian city of Mirebalais in an effort to stop it from falling into gang hands. It's estimated that as much as 80% of the town is under the control of gangs after they stormed the community on Monday, freed over 500 prison inmates and killed two nuns. Haitian police spokesman Lionel Lazarre said he could not yet confirm whether Mirebalais had fallen. However, he said police had arrested a former lawmaker, Alfredo Antoine, who was the police's wanted list. Antoine represented Kenscoff in the hills above the capital and had taken to the radio earlier this year to denounce the attacks while asking for more police. He is accused of plotting to undermine national security, financing criminal organizations and participating in murder plots. He is among three high-profile individuals who have been arrested in recent months by Haitian police, whose failure to provide specifics on how the individuals are tied to the current gang insurgency have raised questions about the detentions' legality. Gangs' continued inroads outside of the capital are raising fears that more cities could fall to the powerful gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm, Living Together. Madistin and Esperance said any attempt to recruit brigade members demonstrates a lack of political will on the part of the authorities to tackle the crisis. 'The police is already full of people affiliated with gangs,' Madistin said. 'When you take [the brigade] you are reinforcing the gangs already inside.' Hours after Jean announced the decision, Haitian authorities in the northeast region announced that they had seized 20 fake badges and uniforms carrying the brigade's name. The seizures were promoted as part of an effort to clean up the institution. Madistin said they underscore the lack of control over the force. Esperance said tapping private security firms to help would be a better solution. He said there are too many conflicts within the police and a lack of leadership. Another problem is lack of equipment and the slow distribution of gear by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, which funds both the police and the Kenya-led security mission. The two forces have to work together, Esperance added. Last week, during Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to the region, Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness called for more resources to Haiti's police force. Earlier this week as France assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, its U.N. ambassador, Jerome Bonnafont, said his country will pay particular attention to the situation in Haiti. Kenya President William Ruto said Thursday that he had a telephone conversation with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in which the two discussed the agency's continued support for the security mission in Haiti. Ruto faces pressure at home to bring his troops back after a second officer was recently killed by gangs. The Kenya president supports the transformation of the mission into a traditional U.N. peacekeeping mission, which Guterres has declined to endorse
Miami Herald
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Haiti human rights groups criticize plan to tap members of rogue force to fight gangs
Human-rights groups are pushing back against a proposal by Haiti authorities to enlist members of a rogue force into the fight against a powerful gang alliance carrying out a deadly siege in three of the country's 10 regional departments. 'It's scandalous,' said Samuel Madistin, an attorney and president of the Fondasyon Je Klere/ Eyes Wide Open Foundation. 'If they want to expand the ranks of the security forces they need to recruit for the army and the police, not from an armed gang.' The plan to enlist members of the Brigade for the Security of Protected Areas was made public on Thursday in a national address by the head of Haiti's ruling Transitional Presidential Council, Fritz Alphonse Jean. The brigade, which is part of the Ministry of Environment, is supposed to be in charge of protecting Haiti's natural resources. But since its founding in 2017, it has been a controversial force implicated in criminal activities, human rights abuses and last year in an attempt to topple the government of then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry. 'It's grave, it's dangerous,' Pierre Esperance of the National Human Rights Defense Network said. The brigade, he added, 'is not a structured corps and the environmental ministry has never had control' over them. 'A lot of them are in gangs,' he said. 'If they want to expand the security forces then the government needs to accelerate recruitment and training.' The move to tap the brigade comes as gangs continue to force people to flee their homes, set fire to houses and businesses and burn armored troop carriers from Haitian police and the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission. As they continue to tighten their grip on Port-au-Prince, the gangs have also moved north to capture more territories. On Friday, members of a self-defense group joined police and the Kenya-led mission in the central Haitian city of Mirebalais in an effort to stop it from falling into gang hands. It's estimated that as much as 80% of the town is under the control of gangs after they stormed the community on Monday, freed over 500 prison inmates and killed two nuns. Haitian police spokesman Lionel Lazarre said he could not yet confirm whether Mirebalais had fallen. However, he said police had arrested a former lawmaker, Alfredo Antoine, who was the police's wanted list. Antoine represented Kenscoff in the hills above the capital and had taken to the radio earlier this year to denounce the attacks while asking for more police. He is accused of plotting to undermine national security, financing criminal organizations and participating in murder plots. He is among three high-profile individuals who have been arrested in recent months by Haitian police, whose failure to provide specifics on how the individuals are tied to the current gang insurgency have raised questions about the detentions' legality. Gangs' continued inroads outside of the capital are raising fears that more cities could fall to the powerful gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm, Living Together. Madistin and Esperance said any attempt to recruit brigade members demonstrates a lack of political will on the part of the authorities to tackle the crisis. 'The police is already full of people affiliated with gangs,' Madistin said. 'When you take [the brigade] you are reinforcing the gangs already inside.' Hours after Jean announced the decision, Haitian authorities in the northeast region announced that they had seized 20 fake badges and uniforms carrying the brigade's name. The seizures were promoted as part of an effort to clean up the institution. Madistin said they underscore the lack of control over the force. Esperance said tapping private security firms to help would be a better solution. He said there are too many conflicts within the police and a lack of leadership. Another problem is lack of equipment and the slow distribution of gear by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, which funds both the police and the Kenya-led security mission. The two forces have to work together, Esperance added. Last week, during Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to the region, Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness called for more resources to Haiti's police force. Earlier this week as France assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, its U.N. ambassador, Jerome Bonnafont, said his country will pay particular attention to the situation in Haiti. Kenya President William Ruto said Thursday that he had a telephone conversation with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in which the two discussed the agency's continued support for the security mission in Haiti. Ruto faces pressure at home to bring his troops back after a second officer was recently killed by gangs. The Kenya president supports the transformation of the mission into a traditional U.N. peacekeeping mission, which Guterres has declined to endorse
NBC News
04-04-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Haiti taking more steps against gangs after thousands of protesters demand security
The leader of Haiti's transitional presidential council tried to allay surging alarm among Haitians over rampant gang violence by acknowledging Thursday that the country has 'become hell for everyone' and promising new measures to stop the bloodshed. Fritz Alphonse Jean spoke a day after gunfire erupted in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as thousands of protesters demanding an end to gang violence clashed with police outside the offices of the council and the prime minister. It was the biggest protest held since the council was installed a year ago. 'Haitian people, you've spoken, and we've heard you,' Jean said. 'We understand your misery. We know your pain and your suffering.' More than 4,200 people have been reported killed across Haiti from July to February, and another 1,356 were injured, according to the U.N. Recent gang violence also left more than 60,000 people homeless in one month alone, according to the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration. 'This national address comes at a decisive moment for the transitional government,' said Diego Da Rin, an analyst with the International Crisis Group. 'Protesters from various parts of the capital deliberately marched toward key government buildings to express their frustration.' He noted that Jean's address marked the first anniversary of the political agreement that established the new transitional government's structure and objectives. Since then, cohesion between political parties involved in creating that government 'has now largely collapsed,' Da Rin said. 'The groups that originally supported this government are now calling for a change in leadership,' he noted. The council has not addressed those concerns, which also have been voiced by the international community. During his public address, Jean rattled off a list of neighborhoods that gangs have recently attacked. 'You lost your homes, you lost your businesses, you lost your jobs, they raped you, they raped your kids. The criminal gangs killed a lot of people,' he said. 'The fight against the darkness is not insignificant. But we are not insignificant ourselves… It's nothing compared with the battle we fought to get out of slavery.' Jean referenced how Haiti became the world's first free Black republic in a bid to rally support from Haitians, asking them to help law enforcement officials and eschew efforts by gangs to recruit people, especially children. 'Don't let people profit from your distress and drag you in bad directions,' he said. Jean said the council would take 'important measures' to help quell the persistent violence, including setting aside a special budget and incorporating agents from an armed state environmental group known as BSAP. 'The council asks the prime minister and the police to take these measures without delay,' Jean said. 'We are telling everyone in this government that we are at war.' Jean did not provide further details, including how much money would be set aside for the budget and how many BSAP agents would join the fight against gangs. Jean also said that the electoral council is working so that Haiti can have new leadership once the transitional presidential council's term ends on Feb. 7 next year. He added that officials are taking steps so that the diaspora can vote in what would be Haiti's first general elections held in almost a decade. Haiti has not had a president since former President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021, with gangs becoming increasingly powerful in the aftermath. Last year, a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police arrived in Haiti to help local authorities quell gang violence, but the mission remains understaffed and underfunded, with only about 40% of the 2,500 personnel originally envisioned. Jean's speech did not appear to resonate with those most affected by gang violence. Mario Jean-Pierre, a 53-year-old street vendor who sells used clothes that he carries on his back, said he wasn't impressed by the public address. Gang violence recently forced him and his two children to move into a makeshift shelter in the yard of Haiti's Ministry of Public Works. 'Flying bullets are coming at you in different directions,' he said. 'I've seen a few people in this camp who were hit by bullets as they slept.' He worries constantly about his children's safety and said he didn't believe Jean's pledge to improve security. 'This speech is not any different from other speeches,' he said. 'They keep making promises and don't accomplish any of the promises they've made.' Da Rin noted that throughout his speech, Jean emphasized the transnational dimension of Haiti's security crisis, stressing that the gang issue is part of a broader problem involving money laundering and arms and drugs trafficking that spans several countries. 'By framing Haiti's gang problem as a matter of transnational crime that goes beyond Haiti's borders, the president seems to be seeking to rally international support for further security assistance that matches the escalating threats,' he said.
