Officials from the Trump administration have reportedly notified Congress they plan to designate Haitian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, a move that would authorize sanctions for any entity or corporation that provides material support for the gangsters.
The Associated Press (AP) on Tuesday compared the plan for Haitian gangs to the steps the Trump State Department has taken against Latin American criminal organizations such as Tren de Aragua.
The State Department designated Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and six other Latin American gangs as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) in February. President Donald Trump said at a rally in Michigan on Tuesday that designating these gangs as “the highest level of terrorist” allows his administration to “do a lot of things that you wouldn’t be able to do.”
According to the AP’s sources, the Trump State Department notified the House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees last week that it plans to designate the Haitian gangs Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif as FTOs. Both of those gangs are powerful, dangerous, and clear threats to the sovereignty of Haiti.
Viv Ansanm is actually a coalition of gangs formed in 2023, and Gran Grif is one of its members. Viv Ansanm forces were behind the spree of violence in the capital of Port-au-Prince in 2024 that shut down the airport and overran two prisons. Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry fled the country, and later resigned, due to the gang onslaught.
The Viv Ansanm coalition began with a declaration of peace between several gangs that had been murderously feuding for years, but saw an opportunity to join forces and overthrow the weakened Haitian government. The name of the group means “Live Together” in Creole.
The most notorious of the gang leaders who agreed to this treaty was Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, a former Haitian police officer who has become a constant presence in foreign media over the past few years, perpetually threatening to lead an armed revolution that would sweep away the internationally-recognized transitional government.
Gran Grif is of particular interest as a separate entity because its forces have moved beyond Port-au-Prince to terrorize Haiti’s breadbasket region of Artibonite. In October, Gran Grif thugs perpetrated one of the worst massacres in Haiti’s history, slaughtering at least 70 people in the farming town of Pont Sonde and driving some 6,000 more civilians from their homes.
Cherizier is already under sanctions from the United States, United Nations, and other countries. The U.S. and Canada have both sanctioned Prophane Victor, the founder of Gran Grif, who is a former member of the Haitian parliament.
Victor was arrested by Haitian police in January, becoming one of the few major gang leaders to be taken down by the authorities. According to Haitian officials, Victor parted ways with Gran Grif years ago, and has since given his support to other vicious criminal organizations.
Gang warlords currently control about 85 percent of Port-au-Prince, despite an infusion of Kenyan police to shore up Haiti’s outmanned and outgunned law enforcement. After a Kenyan police officer was murdered in early April, Kenyan officials began talking about launching more “decisive operations” that would amount to ambushing and eliminating gang leaders, much as decapitation strikes are used against terrorist masterminds.
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