Haiti’s gangs have ‘near-total control’ of the capital : NPR

UNITED NATIONS — Haiti’s gangs have gained “near-total control” of the
capital and authorities are unable to stop escalating violence across the
impoverished Caribbean nation, senior U.N. officials warned Wednesday.

An estimated 90% of the capital

Port-au-Prince is now under control of criminal groups who are expanding
attacks not only into surrounding areas but beyond into previously
peaceful areas, Ghada Fathy Waly, executive director of the U.N. Office on
Drugs and Crime, told the U.N. Security Council.

Waly said the state’s authority to govern is rapidly shrinking as gang
control expands with cascading effects. Criminal groups are stepping into
the vacuum left by the absence or limited delivery of public services and
are establishing “parallel governance structures,” and gang control of
major trade routes has paralyzed legal commerce, leading to soaring prices
for cooking fuel and rice, Haiti’s staple food, she said.

U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca told the council “the
ongoing gang encirclement of Port-au-Prince” and their strengthened
foothold in the capital and beyond is “pushing the situation closer to
the brink.”

“Without increased action by the international community, the total
collapse of state presence in the capital could become a very real
scenario,” he warned.

Gangs have grown in power since the assassination of President Jovenel
Moïse in July 2021 and previously were estimated to control 85% of the
capital. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination.

A U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police arrived in Haiti last year to
help quell gang violence, but the mission remains understaffed and
underfunded, with only about 40% of the 2,500 personnel originally
envisioned. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ proposal in February
to have the U.N. provide drones, fuel, ground and air transport and other
non-lethal support to the Kenya-led mission has languished in the council.

In response to the gangs, the UNODC’s Waly said there has been a rapid
growth in the number and activities of private security companies and
vigilante self-defense groups, with some trying to protect their
communities while others act illegally and collude with gangs.

“Over the last three months,” Jenca said, “these groups reportedly killed
at least 100 men and one woman suspected of gang association or
collaboration.”

He said the last three months have also seen an increase in sexual
violence by gangs with the U.N. political mission in Haiti documenting 364
incidents of sexual violence involving 378 survivors just from March to
April.

A new report by U.N. experts covering the period from last October through
February said the gangs have exploited political turmoil and the
disorganized response to Haiti’s security crisis, pointing to competing
political ambitions and allegations of corruption within Haiti’s
transitional governing bodies that have stymied action.

“While the expansion of territorial control brings gangs additional sources
of revenue and bargaining power,” the experts said, “these attacks are
also backed by individuals trying to destabilize the political transition
for their own political goals.”

One major result is that very little progress has been made toward
restoring public security or implementing the roadmap for organizing
national elections by February 2026, the experts monitoring an arms
embargo on Haiti and sanctions against key gang leaders said in the report
to the Security Council.

With a weak national police force facing acute tensions in its leadership,
an army that needs rebuilding, and the limited ability of the
multinational force, the experts warned that the gangs will continue “to
have the upper hand unless stronger international support is provided.”

As for vigilante groups, the experts said, they “often include local police
officers, some of whom actively participate in human rights violations.”

The Haitian National Police have also carried out “a worrying number of
extrajudicial killings … with suspected gang members often summarily
executed,” the experts said, pointing to 281 summary executions by
specialized police units in 2024 including 22 women and 8 children.

Despite the U.N. arms embargo on Haiti, gangs continue to obtain more
powerful weapons not only from regional civilian markets but from police
stockpiles in Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic, the experts
said.