Haiti's top gang boss 'ready to make deal with devil' to topple country's leader
Haitian gang leader Jimmy Chérizier, also known as 'Barbecue' has vowed to fight the country's prime minister, Ariel Henry "until the last drop of blood" and threatened to incite a civil war.
Haiti is plunged into chaos after a mass escape from the country’s prisons led to a violent conflict that has so far displaced some 15,000 people, according to the United Nations. Leading the unrest is Barbecue, a former elite police officer who leads a federation of gangs known as "G9 and Family" that has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Barbecue has declared his goal of blocking the return of Henry, who landed in Puerto Rico on Tuesday. The gang leader was wearing a bullet-proof vest and surrounded by men in ski masks carrying heavy assault rifles as he spoke to journalists at an impromptu news conference in a slum of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
READ MORE: Haiti Prime Minister flees country after brutal mob boss Barbecue frees 4,000 prisoners
Leader of the "G9 and Family" gang, Jimmy Cherizier, is better known as 'Barbecue' (Matias Delacroix/AP/REX/Shutterstock)He told the press: "We'll fight Ariel Henry until the last drop of blood, we'll fight until he resigns. I am ready to make an alliance with the devil, ready to sleep in the same bed as the devil. Our goal is to break the system. [...] Either Haiti becomes a paradise for all of us, or a hell for all of us."
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Chérizier, who is under UN sanctions for human rights abuses, added: "If Ariel Henry doesn’t resign, if the international community continues to support him, we’ll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide. [...] It’s out of the question for a small group of rich people living in big hotels to decide the fate of people living in working-class neighbourhoods."
The gangs say they want to overthrow the disputed prime minister (AFP via Getty Images)Haiti has no elected government officials as no elections have been held since 2016. Ariel Henry, who is also the country's president, became prime minister after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Gangs opened fire on police late Monday outside the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, where Henry would likely land should he return home. Instead, he arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico late on Tuesday afternoon, on a chartered flight that originated in New Jersey.
A burned police station "Commissariat de l'Aeroport" in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (AFP via Getty Images)For all the latest news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US
Tracking data showed the flight was heading toward the Dominican Republic, which shares with Haiti the island of Hispaniola, but circled mid-flight before diverting to Puerto Rico. Hours earlier, the Dominican government announced that it was immediately suspending all air traffic with Haiti.
Henry has been notably absent in the past few weeks as he crisscrossed the world, from South America to Africa, with no announced date of return and has remained silent since the country's latest and most serious outbreak of violence started last week.
Carcasses of burnt-out vehicles in front of the police station at Carrefour de l'Aeroport, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (AFP via Getty Images)He was last seen Friday in Kenya on a mission to salvage a multinational security force the East African nation was set to lead under the auspices of the United Nations. Henry left Haiti more than a week ago to attend a meeting of Caribbean leaders in Guyana, where a deadline was announced — by others, not Henry — to delay repeatedly postponed elections yet again. The balloting was pushed back to mid-2025.
That announcement is what appears to have triggered the latest explosion of violence. It began with a direct challenge from Chérizier, who said he would target government ministers in an effort to prevent Henry's return and force his resignation. He appeared to make good on that threat over the next few days as gangs launched attacks on the central bank, the airport, and even the national soccer stadium.
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