The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How Haiti’s gang leader ‘Barbecue’ rose to power
Jimmy Chérizier, the elite police officer-turned-gang leader known as “Barbecue,” has risen through Haiti’s political vacuum to become one of the country’s most powerful men.
Chérizier — who got his nickname from his mother’s famous grilled chicken — has proved himself a savvy player of both traditional and social media and a charismatic leader who unified several of Port-au-Prince’s disparate gangs to take control of much of Port-au-Prince and demand embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down.
He has been accused of crippling Haiti’s economy through extortion and blocking port terminals. His alleged leadership of and participation in slum massacres and violence have left him feared at home and sanctioned internationally.
Henry, criticized for failing to contain the violence or lead the country to new elections, finally agreed last week that he would step down once a transitional presidential council had chosen an interim to replace him. Chérizier is credited with helping to drive him from office.
Chérizier, having been sanctioned by the United Nations, is ineligible to serve on the council. But with his power and influence, he is likely to continue impacting Haiti’s trajectory.
What is Jimmy Chérizier’s role in Haiti’s political chaos?
Often seen wearing a bulletproof vest and flanked by men and boys carrying assault rifles, Chérizier portrays himself as a savior of the streets in the beleaguered Caribbean nation of 11 million.
In 2020 he became a major player by uniting several of the warring gangs of Port-auPrince into a powerful new confederation named the G9 Family and Allies to launch what he called a “revolution.” He announced its formation on YouTube dressed in a powder-blue three-piece suit.
Since then, he has been instrumental in directing pressure on Henry to stand down. While the prime minister was in Nairobi promoting a U.N.-approved, Kenya-led security force for Haiti, Chérizier gave him an ultimatum: Resign or “the country is headed straight to a genocide.”
“If the international community continues to support him, they are taking us to a civil war,” he warned. “We will fight until Ariel Henry’s resignation.”
On Monday, before Henry announced his intention to resign, Chérizier said a new government should be chosen by his coalition and “the Haitian people.” He also lambasted the planned security force.
“It will plunge Haiti into chaos,” Chérizier said. “We are having a bloody revolution in the country.”
Carlos Solar, senior research fellow of Latin American security at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute, said Chérizier commands a formidable force. “We’ve seen a massive influx of weapons,” he said, “which means that any multinational force will need to be armed to the teeth, as Jimmy and the other gangs are.”
Who is ‘Barbecue?’
Chérizier, thought to be in his late 40s, was born in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, the youngest of eight children, the Associated Press has reported. Their father died when he was 5.
He became a member of Haiti’s national police, working with a riot squad, before being expelled in 2018 — a decision he has called unfair.
Articulate and charismatic, he is viewed in Delmas as a protector, often seen handing out food, hosting journalists and patrolling the streets. “This is an armed revolution,” he told The Washington Post in 2020. “We will put guns in the hands of every child if we have to.”
Chérizier has been accused of leading massacres in which dozens of men, women and children have been killed — most notably in 2018 in the slums of La Saline, where at least 71 people were killed, at least seven women raped and over 400 houses destroyed, according to the United Nations. Chérizier denies all allegations.
He was sanctioned by the United States in 2020 for human rights abuses and by the United Nations in 2022. The U.N. Security Council said his actions, which allegedly included extorting small businesses, kidnapping for ransom and blockading a fuel terminal for months at a time, “have directly contributed to the economic paralysis and humanitarian crisis in Haiti.”
“Barbecue is quite a character,” Solar said. “He’s a bit of a Robin Hood — he represents himself as this.”
Could Chérizier himself lead Haiti?
Analysts say Chérizier is unlikely to lead Haiti. He’s not the country’s most powerful gang leader, some say — just the most visible.
Other figures, such as Guy Philippe, are better known in Haiti. Philippe, a former rebel commander — he led the 2004 uprising that ousted then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide — returned to Haiti last year after being freed from a U.S. prison, where he served time after pleading guilty to money laundering related to drug trafficking. Philippe, too, called for Henry’s removal.
But Chérizier has “clearly filled a void,” said Christopher Sabatini, senior Latin America fellow at London’s Chatham House. “In these moments of political vacuum and crisis, new leaders emerge.”
Chérizier’s influence over the streets, Sabatini said, his cache of weapons and his control of much of the capital could give him “effective veto power” over the proposed transitional presidential council and elections.
“He’s grabbed the lime light, he has more of a media presence than most, he plays to the audience,” Sabatini said. He’s “a factor of the power dynamic right now.”