Unknown assailants believed to be affiliated with the nation’s out-of-control criminal gang network reportedly looted and burned down the home of the director-general of the Haitian National Police, Frantz Elbe, on Thursday.
Elbe’s home was reportedly one of several targets of terrorist assaults by the gangs on Thursday in a resurgence of gang violence after a modest period of calm on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The gangs have largely taken over the country following the departure of Prime Minister Ariel Henry for a visit to Kenya at the beginning of the month, in which he asked the country to send police officers to help Haiti’s depleted law enforcement resources combat the threat of the gangs. Henry, unelected and with seemingly no public support, has, in effect, run the country since the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in his home in 2021. Following his flight out of Haiti, the G9 and Family gang syndicate, led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, launched an assault in which it freed 4,000 prison inmates and surrounded the Port-au-Prince airport, making it impossible for Henry to return.
Henry is stranded in Puerto Rico at press time and announced plans to resign on Monday. Henry insisted that he would not formally vacate the position until his country established a “Transitional Presidential Council,” backed by the international community, tasked with choosing a new prime minister and organizing elections.
As of Thursday, the “Presidential Council” has chosen six of its seven prospective members. The Council plan is not especially popular in Haiti, however, and faces significant opposition – notably from Cherizier, who issued threats on Thursday against the families of anyone participating in the Council or materially supporting it. Another influential opponent of the Council is Guy Philippe, a gang-affiliated political leader precluded from joining the Council due to having been convicted on money laundering charges in the United States. President Joe Biden’s administration freed Philippe in September, allowing him to return to Haiti and vie for power.
Haiti remains unsafe for Henry to return and the few people in leadership positions left in the country are also under siege. On Thursday, “armed individuals” attacked the home of Elbe, the police chief, reportedly looting the premises before setting it on fire. Elbe and his family were reportedly not there, as they had long faced threats to their person.
Henry appointed Elbe police chief in October 2021 as one of his first acts to attempt to secure order in the country following the killing of Moïse. Elbe appears to have prioritized reaching out to the United Nations, America, and other foreign countries for support for his police officers, including the organization of a security plan to keep the gangs from overrunning the country.
An unidentified source familiar with the situation told the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste on Thursday that the assault was “the culmination of a series of slanders, verbal attacks on social networks, and in the press carried out against the director-general with political motivations.” The newspaper did not identify anyone potentially involved in the alleged defamation campaign against Elbe, but Cherizier had named him as an alleged elitist opponent to his uprising, which the gang leader has openly described as a “bloody revolution.”
Cherizier threatened “genocide” last week if Henry did not resign from his position, but told ABC News that removing Henry would not end the rampant violence.
“The first step is to overthrow Ariel Henry and then we will start the real fight against the current system, the system of corrupt oligarchs and corrupt traditional politicians,” he explained. “Not only are we fighting against Ariel Henry, but we are also fighting against everyone who has some complicity.”
Cherizier again threatened Haiti’s political elite on Thursday, asserting, “I’ll know if your kids are in Haiti, if your wives are in Haiti.”
“Don’t you have any shame? You have taken the country where it is today. You have no idea what will happen,” Cherizier bellowed in a video message.
In a separate message this week, Cherizier said his gangs planned to capture Elbe.
Le Nouvelliste documented over a dozen attacks on police stations since February 29 and multiple attacks on prisons intended to free inmates. Some reports suggest that the prison attacks were so successful that the national penitentiary witnessed the escape of 90 percent of its inmates.
The national prison was in flames on Thursday, as well, under unclear circumstances.
Firefighters arrive to put out a small fire at the empty National Penitentiary as National Police patrol in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, March 14, 2024. This is the same facility that armed gangs stormed late March 2 and hundreds of inmates escaped. (Odelyn Joseph/AP)
“According to some information, the few prisoners present inside the establishment were quickly evacuated and sensitive documents preserved,” the local outlet Haiti24 reported.
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