Gangs in Haiti
Not all gangs in Haiti are bad. For example the G9 Family Group of gangs were formed to protect citizens against other rival gangs which terrorize the citizens with kidnappings, murders and rapes.
With little opposition, apart from their own in-fighting, and with plenty of firepower, these gang leaders have become defacto warlords inside Haiti. They control public infrastructure, shut down entire neighborhoods, kill and loot with impunity, and largely determine the daily lives of tens of thousands.
Haitians arming themselves with machetes to fight against and go after the gang members and their leaders. The #BwaKale movement we seeing is revolution 2.0. The gang members get put down first, then the bourgeois who help to finance chaos in the country
— RonRulah 🇭🇹 (@RonRulah) May 4, 2023
pic.twitter.com/DebyGi3vhk
G PEP
The G PEP Gang is a criminal gang led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, alias "Gabriel". They have been terrorizing the citizens of Haiti with kidnappings, rapes and murders. The G PEP have the backing of the Haitian Elites. G-Pèp is funded and politically aligned with Réginald Boulos, one of Haiti’s most influential business magnates, a presidential candidate, a supporter of the two coups d’état against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and a close collaborator of the U.S. State Department..
5 Seconds Gang
The 5 Seconds Gang from the Village-de-Dieu neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, is a criminal gang led by Andre Johnson also known as the rapper Izo. They have been terrorizing the citizens of Haiti with kidnappings, rapes and murders. The 5 Seconds gand is part of the G PEP
In 2022, the 5 Seconds gang attacked public infrastructure around Port-au-Prince, occupied the country's Supreme Court building for months, created choke points north and south of the capital to extort drivers, and controlled the sale of black market gasoline, which has become essential in Haiti.
G9 Family
The G9 came together in June 2020 under the leadership of former special forces policeman Cherizier to combat the kidnapping, robbery, rape, and extortion plaguing Port-au-Prince’s poor neighborhoods. The G9 Family of Gangs is led by ex Police Officer Jimmy Cherizier, aka Barbecue.
The lower Delmar neighbourhood that the G9 manage is well kept and pristine, in stark contrast to other gang controlled areas of the country, where the streets are lined with piles of garbage so high, that paths have to be carved out of them in order for traffic to navigate.
The continued extent of government support for G9 is uncertain on July 13 the G9 received "heavy machines for the destruction of houses and the digging of a passage," from the National Center of Equipment (CNE).
Barbecue
Jimmy Chérizier is a former officer of the Haitian National Police (HNP) and The leader of the “G9 Family and Allies” gang alliance
Cherizier is a revolutionary, fighting a system of inequality and the elites who control it. “We are fighting for another society – another Haiti that is not only for the 5 percent of the people who keep all the wealth, but a new Haiti where everyone can have food and clean water, so they can have a decent house to live, another Haiti where we don’t have to leave the country,”
Cherizier has denied accusations. “I’m not a gangster. I never will be a gangster,” he told Al Jazeera last year. “It’s the system I’m fighting against today. The system has a lot of money; they own the media. Now they try to make me look like a gangster.”
Izo
Haitian rapper Izo who was recently given a youtube creators award is also a leader in the notorious gang
Izo gained notoriety when a March 2021 anti gang operation on his base in Village de Deur went bad and 4 police officers were killed, armored vehicles belonging to the police were seized
This is Izo 5 seconds, the leader of the village gang. Who knows that he will kill many people if the people continue with the BWA KALE operation. He says that he has already killed a lot pic.twitter.com/nY3pq67cdF
— MEDYA S (@medyas100) May 4, 2023
Izo from the 5 Seconds Gang is now taking hostages and carrying out murders of innocent citizens in retailiation against the Bwa Kale movement.
Gabriel
Ti Gabriel, whose real name is Jean Pierre Gabriel, is the leader of G-Pèp (G-People), a copy-cat pseudo-federation of criminal armed groups that was formed to counter the G9, an alliance of armed neighborhood organizations, led by former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, committed to stamping out crime in their blighted communities as well as to revolution against Haiti’s bourgeois oligarchs.
Sous Matla
— Velina (@VelinaEC) May 4, 2023
Anmweyyy Anmweyyy Anmweyyy pic.twitter.com/VJZWA8vyny
Pray for Haiti, Haiti need help, gang ap chèche moun kite nan mouvman bwa kale pou egzekite yo @SpeakerPelosi @ValNuma @UN @StateDept @WhiteHouse pic.twitter.com/oQZQ1g0ffq
— Jerry Jean louis (@JerryJe76562333) May 3, 2023
