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Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, a former police officer who now
heads a powerful coalition of gangs that controls large parts of
Port-au-Prince, led his group of armed men on a march through
the capital on Tuesday, blocking roads and banging drums.
"We are launching the fight to overturn Ariel Henry's government
in any way," gang leader Cherizier told Reuters. "Our fight will
be with weapons."
He added that "demonstrations in all working-class
neighborhoods" would take place daily against Henry's
government, which he said had no legitimacy.
Haitian gangs, which frequently engage police in gun battles and
profit from activities such as extortion and drug trafficking,
have grown in strength since the 2021 assassination of President
Jovenel Moise.
The assassination created a power vacuum, with Prime Minister
Ariel Henry governing on an interim basis since. Henry has
pledged to hold elections once security is re-established, and
has called for international help in fighting the gangs.
"The international community cannot continue to do this in
Haiti," Cherizier said. "If the international community has
nothing to do with (Moise's) death, they must not support Ariel
Henry."
Cherizier also said that residents of the densely populated
Carrefour Feuilles neighborhood who left their homes because of
gang violence would soon be able to return and live in peace.
The threat from Cherizier comes as Kenya assesses leading a
multinational United Nations-backed force to help Haiti's
under-gunned police fight the gangs.
More than 19,000 people have been displaced from the capital in
recent weeks due to the outbreak of armed violence, according to
U.N. estimates.
(Reporting by Ralph Tedy Erol; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing
by Alex Richardson)
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