Haiti: The Iron Grip Of The Gangs

In Port-au-Prince, nearly three million people are living in the grips of all-out gang war.
Gangs now control more than 80% of the city, and their notorious spokesman Jimmy Chérizier, also known as “Barbecue”, told our team they’re not counting on laying down their weapons any time soon. “We demand to be at the negotiating table,” he said from his stronghold in the slums of lower Port-au-Prince. “If not, we will continue to fight.”

In the lower shantytowns of Port-au-Prince which are the gangs’ bastions, thousands of people remain, unable or unwilling to flee. Murders, kidnappings, gang rapes, fires are common and no end to the crisis seems in sight.