The French-speaking Caribbean Island is currently experiencing a political and humanitarian catastrophe as a result of the aftermath of gang violence. Sylvie Bertrand, the regional representative for UNODC, told UN News that there are “unprecedented levels of lawlessness” at the moment.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) most recent assessment on the illicit firearms trade in Haiti, a surge in the trafficking of more sophisticated weaponry, including Israeli Galil assault rifles and American-made AR-15s and Russian AK-47s, has seized Haiti since 2021.
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Recent press reports of random sniper assaults, widespread looting, kidnappings, and raids on prisons to liberate thousands of convicts have been linked to many of these illicit firearms. As a result, more than 362,000 Haitians have been forced to leave the carnage.
According to independent analyst and author of Haiti’s Criminal Markets Robert Muggah, certain gangs are utilizing arms trafficking to support their ambitions to spread their influence and seize important areas that are impeding efforts to stop the illegal entry of even more firearms.
Mr. Muggah stated, “We have a very disconcerting and unsettling situation in Haiti, probably the worst I’ve seen in over 20 years of working in the country.”
These “deadly arsenals,” which are mostly trafficked from the US, give gangs “firepower that exceeds that of the Haitian National Police,” according to a UN panel of specialists tasked with overseeing the sanctions the Security Council placed on Haiti in 2022 in response to the country’s escalating armed gang violence.
According to Ms. Bertrand of UNODC, the issue is that when more guns enter the country, gangs take control of vital locations like ports and highways, making it harder for law enforcement to stop arms trafficking.
Haitian medical personnel informed the UN expert panel, “The increasing number of weapons in circulation as well as the upgrading of arsenals is having an impact on the lethality and severity of the wounds being inflicted.”
Based on his observations, between 150 and 200 armed organizations are active in Haiti, which is located on the island of Hispaniola shared with the Dominican Republic, according to Mr. Muggah, an independent security and development specialist.
Currently, about 23 gangs are active in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan region. These gangs have split into two sizable coalitions: G-Pèp, which is commanded by Gabriel Jean Pierre, better known as Ti Gabriel, and the G9 Family and Allies, which is led by Jimmy Chérizier, popularly known as Barbecue.
According to him, the two opposing groups have been “effectively forcing their will and expanding their territory” by orchestrating “coordinated attacks” within the past few weeks at the airport, the National Theatre, the National Palace, hospitals, schools, police stations, customs offices, and ports.
Mr. Muggah remarked, “Gangs are controlling very strategic areas of the capital and the main roads connecting Port-au-Prince to the ports and to the land borders as well as coastal towns and areas, where we see a lot of the trafficking happening.”
The panel of specialists discovered that the trafficking of arms is a highly profitable enterprise, especially when dealing in tiny amounts, due to the rising demand and high pricing of firearms.
A 5.56mm semi-automatic rifle, for instance, that would normally cost several hundred dollars in the United States is commonly offered for $5,000 to $8,000 in Haiti.
Additional research revealed the existence of “ghost guns,” which are easily constructed privately by buying components online and eluding the regulatory procedures that are in place for firearms produced in factories. Since these weapons are not serialized, it is impossible to track them down.
According to the UNODC research, a tiny number of Haitian gangs are extremely skilled at obtaining, stockpiling, and distributing weapons and ammunition.
According to UNODC’s Ms. Bertrand, the majority of guns and ammunition that are smuggled into Haiti, either directly or via another nation, come from the United States. They are usually bought from authorized retail stores, gun fairs, or pawn shops and transported by sea.
She also mentioned suspicions about illicit operations involving unregistered aircraft, little airports along the coast of South Florida, and the existence of concealed airstrips in Haiti.
According to UNODC, there are four routes through which people use Haiti’s porous borders to carry out drug trafficking. Two of these routes travel from Florida to Port-au-Prince via cargo ships and the additional two travel via the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos, the north and west coasts, and small aircraft that land in Cap Haitian, the northern city.
According to UNODC, many US government seizures have taken place in Miami. Even though control agencies increased the number of searches in 2023, authorities occasionally fail to discover illegal weapons and ammunition, which are frequently concealed amid densely packed parcels of various sizes.
According to Ms. Bertrand, to significantly reduce “the flow of arms in the country,” the UN agency is training “control units” in ports and airports, which are made up of Coast Guard, police, and customs officers, to recognize and examine high-risk cargo and containers. It is also working to make it easier for these units to use radar and other essential tools.
