The video shows a line of more than 30 men standing in front of the ruins of a building, all silent and with their heads down. A man walks among them while drinking from a small bottle. Someone is heard shouting: “There will be trouble in Port-au-Prince!”
Nearby you can see assault rifles leaning against a wall, in front of a pile of pistols on the ground. There are two barrels full of bullets.
The men appear to be new recruits to one of Haiti’s most infamous street gangs, and the video appears to be their induction ceremony into the underworld that is dominating the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere today.
The video has the captions “400 Mawozo” and “400 Useless”, references to the gang that, according to authorities, is responsible for a large number of deaths and kidnappings, including the kidnapping of 17 foreign missionaries in recent days.
The video appears to be one way in which the gang is flaunting its power, at a time when the power and impunity of these gangs in Haiti is increasing. It is a plagiarism that threatens to tear society apart and suffocate the country’s anemic economy.
“The situation is out of control,” estimated James Boyard, a political science professor at Haiti State University who, like other experts, attributes the phenomenon to businessmen and political leaders who financed the gangs. “They were given too much power, and now they are terrified. They did not know that things would get out of control like they have.
Gangs control 40% of Port-au-Prince, a city of more than 2.8 million people where gangs fight for territory every day. The street that belonged to one gang one day could belong to the other the next. Two ringleaders who shoot at each other one day could create a short-lived alliance to fight a third, until they renew their enmity.
There are an enormous number of gang names – Krache Difé, Torcel, Baz Pilot, 5 Secondes – but experts estimate that there are only 30 established in and around the capital. The most powerful is estimated to be “G9 Familia y Aliados,” directed by Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer.
Gang violence rises and falls, depending on the situation, political or economic, or, in due course, the presence of UN peacekeepers. Today, the country remains shaken by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7 and an earthquake in August that killed more than 2,200 people.
Those two events temporarily halted gang activity, but kidnappings have increased in recent weeks. A total of 328 kidnappings were reported to the Haitian National Police in the first eight months of 2021, compared to 234 for all of 2020, according to the United Nations Office for Haiti.
The power of the gangs is most evident in Martissant, the neighborhood that links Port-au-Prince with the south of the country and where three gangs fight for power. The violence in that town is such that the inhabitants take detours for hours to avoid it, according to the local newspaper Le Nouvelliste.
In Martissant, the police station is stitched with bullets and shirtless and hooded men stand guard from behind scorched cars.
In July, a gang fired on an ambulance, killing a nurse. The following month, the violence forced the organization Doctors without Borders to close its clinic in Martissant. On a recent Saturday, police tried to enter with armored vehicles and were soon fired upon. A dead civilian was lying on the ground for the rest of the day.
Until recently, fights were between gangs and civilians were sometimes caught in the crossfire. But in November 2018, more than 70 people died in La Saline, a very poor neighborhood in Port-au-Prince currently under the control of the G9 gang, whose leader was implicated in the massacre.
“There was retaliation and more retaliation … until they started attacking civilians and now they don’t distinguish between gang members and civilians,” said an international official who asked to remain anonymous.
And the same happens with the kidnappings, which have had as victims a sausage seller, school children, priests and wealthy businessmen.
Experts estimate that rampant crime is partly due to the extreme poverty that afflicts the country. 60% of the population subsists on less than $ 2 a day, and millions of people suffer from hunger.
“Gangs for many people offer a way out of this whole situation, perhaps the only way out,” Boyard said.
Haiti’s gross domestic product fell to -3.3% last year, its biggest drop since the -5.7% after the devastating 2010 earthquake. The national currency has lost 50% of its value and inflation exceeds 10 %, says Haitian economist Enomy Germain.
The situation is comparable to the one that followed the 1991 coup that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Germain said.
Experts say that part of the blame lies with Aristide, who when he returned to power in 1994, they say, dissolved the army and armed the neighborhoods, where he had influence as a Catholic priest.
Many of the new gang members are no more than 6 or 7 years old and are capos by the time they reach their teens. Few of them reach 30 years of age. Gang members often refer to themselves as “soldiers.” One, who identified himself only as James, claimed that he works as a mechanic and joined the Baz Pilat gang “to protect the ghetto from enemies who want to enter to rob, kill and rape.”
Gangs also suffocate the economy by blocking gas distribution and transportation routes, hindering the transportation of products and services across the country. Many gas stations are closed for days.
“I live in a chaotic country,” said Delmy Belmon, 44, a manager of a hardware store. He claimed that his 9- and 12-year-old children cannot even go outside to play.
“When they are inside the car they look to the right, to the left, and when they see a motorcycle approaching I see that they are terrified,” said Belmon.
The violence is likely to worsen as next year’s presidential and legislative elections approach. Political parties often finance gangs in exchange for support, the international official said.
“Every gang is willing to sell themselves, to negotiate,” said the official.
Haiti has just 9,000 police officers, a fraction of the number needed to keep the peace in a country of more than 11 million people.
There are many more gang members and their weapons. Months ago, at least four policemen were killed and others injured during a failed police raid in the slum Village de Dieu.
Days later, the police marched through the streets, demanding the return of the remains of their comrades. They belong to a group of disgruntled police officers called Fantom 509, who have been accused of murder, arson and even breaking into a jail to free comrades.
Some Haitian National Police officers have ties to gangs, Boyard explained. “They support them, they tell them how to move, when to leave, when to enter,” he added.
Meanwhile André Apaid, a Haitian businessman, owner of a textile company, refused to say if he has given money to the gangs or not, but emphasized: “Companies have to coexist with criminal and violent structures in order to survive.”
Gang activity “is like a poison to the economy,” Germain said.
“We cannot speak of economic recovery if we do not have security, if every day people are kidnapped, trucks are hijacked, if companies cannot do business freely,” he added.
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