To say that Haiti is immersed in utter chaos is something of a redundancy, since this seems to be the perpetual state of affairs in the Caribbean Island in the last decades.
But the security situation regarding the rebel gangs that control as much as 90% of the capital Port-au-Prince has long surpassed the threshold of a law-enforcement affair into the realm of a veritable undeclared civil war.
In the extreme landscape of Haiti’s ultra-violence, there’s even space for the supernatural: on December 6–7, 2024, in Cité Soleil, a slum in Port-au-Prince, a gang killed around 184 people, mostly elderly folks. But why?
Rebel Gang leader Felix Bien-Aimé, of the “Viv Ansanm” alliance, ordered the massacre when his child fell ill, after a voodoo priest blamed elderly residents for cursing the child with witchcraft. The attackers used machetes and knives, burned bodies, and dumped some into the sea.
When you know things are at this level, maybe we won’t be so surprised to learn that, on Saturday, a new specialized Haitian police task force hit the stronghold of the country’s most notorious warlord, Jimmy Chérizier, using kamikaze drones rigged with explosives to kill him from a distance.
Miami Herald reported:
“Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé confirmed the strike in the lower Delmas 6 neighborhood on his personal X account, as rumors swirled in both Port-au-Prince and in the United States that the target of the attack, Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, a former police officer who has become the country’s top gang chieftain, was either seriously injured or dead.
But soon after the attack, Chérizier released a video in which he confirmed he is still alive, and didn’t appear to be gravely injured. He said police used explosive drones in an attempt to kill him. “
Watch: Social media images appear to show the explosive drones used against Barbecue.
Breaking News: “Explosive drone @pnh_officiel deployed today against BBQ’s base in lower Delmas.
Niko is dead, Bèf is dead, Chávez is dead, Ti Baba is dead, Sansib is dead.
All of them were important to the Barbecue gang (the leader of the terrorist organization Viv Ansanm)” pic.twitter.com/Jc7QHo8tbd
— HaitiInfoProj (@HaitiInfoProj) March 2, 2025
“’Security forces are mobilized, and a state of readiness has been declared’, the prime minister he said on the government’s X account. ‘The country will not yield to terror. Haitian people, keep hope alive: the government stands at your side in these difficult times. Victory against the gangs is on its way. Haiti will take control of its destiny once again’.”
The Police task force was created by the government in less than 48 hours and purposefully bypassed the current police chief, Rameau Normil.
“A former police chief who became a gang leader, Chérizier was one of the principal chieftains of both the G-9 gang coalition and the powerful Viv Ansanm alliance, which made its deadly debut a year ago on Feb. 28. Gang members burned schools and police stations, raided the country’s two largest prisons and led insurgencies in many parts of the capital. More than 5,600 Haitians died in gang-related violence last year, according to the United Nations.”
Watch: Barbecue appears to have escaped unharmed.
HAITI: The BBQ gang leader escaped unharmed after being attacked this Saturday, March 1, 2025, 3 police officers seriously injured in this offensive
In a police operation planned by Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, according to rumors, powerful gang leader Jimmy Cherizier… pic.twitter.com/rD69MIZPb7
— HaitiInfoProj (@HaitiInfoProj) March 2, 2025
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