Gangs in Haiti are exploiting political turmoil to tighten their grip on the country, paralyzing domestic and international efforts to restore law and order.
Haiti’s main gang coalition, known as Viv Ansanm (Living Together), launched attacks on November 19 against some of the few remaining areas of capital city Port-au-Prince not under gang control.
Though they were repelled by police and residents, the attacks marked the latest installment in a fresh wave of violence that has seen the gangs ratchet up pressure on Haiti’s electoral council, tasked with organizing elections in the tumultuous Caribbean nation for the first time in almost a decade.
In a video posted on social media a day before the attacks, a prominent gang leader called for the council’s resignation, vowing that Viv Ansanm would “use all of its resources” to secure its departure, Le Nouvelliste reported. The attacks come less than two weeks after the electoral council triggered a political crisis by ousting Haiti’s interim prime minister, Gary Conille.
Shortly after Conille’s dismissal, the gangs escalated their aggression, opening fire on commercial jets approaching the capital’s main airport and temporarily forcing its closure for the second time this year.
In recent weeks, the gangs have also intensified attacks on previously gang-free zones in Port-au-Prince, setting fires to homes and forcing residents to flee.
Gang attacks have also targeted the international community, with gunfire hitting a United Nations aid helicopter and US embassy vehicles in late October.
The gangs now control most of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, according to UN estimates. They have faced limited resistance from Haiti’s threadbare police force and a Kenya-led Multi-national Security Support (MSS) mission sent for backup. Haiti’s electoral council has requested the MSS, lacking sufficient staff and equipment, be expanded into a full-scale peacekeeping mission.
InSight Crime Analysis
With Haiti’s political transition in disarray and the MSS floundering, the Viv Ansanm coalition is capitalizing on the turmoil to consolidate its territorial and political influence in Port-au-Prince.
An alliance of once-rival gang factions has given criminal groups a unified platform to use violence to destabilize the country and quash interventions aimed at restoring state control.
Earlier this year, Viv Ansanm launched coordinated attacks on critical infrastructure – including prisons, government buildings, and the country’s main airport – as part of a campaign that forced the resignation of former prime minister, Ariel Henry.
Formed in late 2023, Viv Ansanm began as a means of opposing the deployment of the MSS, viewed as a threat to gang control in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere. But gang unification has also helped them expand their control of territory and strategic infrastructure, increasing their financial and political capital vis-á-vis the transitional government.
Viv Ansanm now appears focused on disrupting the electoral council by tightening its grip on the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, which concentrates a sizable chunk of Haitian voters.
Featured Image: A police officer clears burning barricades laid by residents to deter gang attacks in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Credit: Odelyn Joseph (Associated Press)
