Barbecue choice: Paradise, genocide
Gang leader warns Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE: A powerful Haitian gang leader has warned the chaos engulfing the capital Port-au-Prince will lead to civil war and “genocide” unless Prime Minister Ariel Henry steps down.
The stark comments from Jimmy Cherizier, known as “Barbecue,” came as Henry appeared to be struggling to fly home, with the main airport under attack and neighbouring Dominican Republic refusing permission for him to land.
Henry -- who was supposed to step down last month -- was out of the country last week when armed criminal gangs, who control large swathes of the country, launched a co-ordinated assault to oust him.
“If Ariel Henry doesn’t resign, if the international community continues to support him, we’ll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide,” Cherizier, a former police officer who is under UN sanctions for human rights abuses, told reporters at a press conference in the capital.
“Either Haiti becomes a paradise or a hell for all of us. It’s out of the question for a small group of rich people living in big hotels to decide the fate of people living in working-class neighbourhoods.”
As the latest crisis in the violence-wracked Caribbean nation spiralled, gunfire shut down some flights at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Haiti’s capital.
Henry was denied entry into the neighbouring Dominican Republic and his plane was diverted to nearby Puerto Rico.
In power since the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise, Henry was due to step down in February but instead agreed to a power-sharing deal with the opposition until new elections are held.
Amid the chaos, a police academy where more than 800 cadets are training came under attack by an armed gang.
Cherizier, who leads a group of gangs known as the “G9 Family and Allies,” cites as a chief inspiration Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, who ruled Haiti with ruthless brutality in the 1960s and 70s.
He said gunmen had committed harmful acts, but “I believe that society must forgive them and unite to rethink a new Haiti.”
Haitian officials have been pleading for months for international assistance to help their overwhelmed security forces, as gangs push beyond the city and into rural areas.
While Henry was in Kenya pushing for a UN-backed police mission, the gangs raided two Port-au-Prince prisons, in attacks that resulted in a dozen deaths and the escape of thousands of inmates.
“They’re showing us that the police don’t matter,” resident Bertony Junior Exantus said.