Guy Filip

Guy Philippe is a convicted money launderer, former police commander, and politician who helped lead the 2004 coup against then-president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. After serving a six-year prison sentence in the United States, Philippe was repatriated to Haiti in November 2023.

Philippe’s notorious criminal career began in the late 1990s as a commander in the Haitian National Police (HNP), when U.S. authorities accused him of using his contacts in the security services to smuggle cocaine from Colombia to the United States via Haiti. He was arrested and extradited to the U.S. in January 2017, where he pleaded guilty to one count of laundering drug trafficking proceeds.

Despite his criminal past, Philippe has long harbored presidential ambitions, portraying himself as a freedom fighter against Haitian elites, corruption, and foreign intervention. However, his history often clashes with the image he presents to his supporters. Philippe’s attempted coup was partly financed by wealthy Haitian families and led by former military officials implicated in serious human rights violations.

Today, Philippe is a wild card who, with his underworld and upperworld connections, could further complicate Haiti’s political future. Since his return, Philippe has held rallies across the country, often flanked by heavily armed members of Haiti’s Brigade for the Security of Protected Areas (BSAP), a rogue agency once responsible for environmental protection.

History

Philippe was born on February 29, 1968 in Pestel, a hamlet in the southern department of Grand’Anse in Haiti. He studied medicine in Puebla, Mexico, before beginning a military career in Haiti. In 1992, he received an Armed Forces scholarship and trained in Ecuador, with part of his training provided by the U.S. Special Forces.

Shortly after Philippe’s return to Haiti, then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide disbanded the country’s armed forces. The institution was notoriously corrupt, and Aristide harbored particular hostility toward it, as his first presidency had been abruptly cut short by a military coup in 1991 that nearly resulted in his execution.

Philippe joined the Haitian National Police and quickly rose to the position of police chief in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second largest city and a major drug trafficking depot. He maintained close contact with colleagues from his military training in Ecuador, several of whom also rose to serve in the Haitian police force. It was during this period that U.S. authorities alleged that Philippe became involved in drug trafficking.

In 2000, Haitian authorities dismissed Philippe from the police force, accusing him of plotting a coup against Aristide in collaboration with other police commanders. Philippe fled Haiti, first to Ecuador and later to the Dominican Republic.

Outside Haiti, Philippe redoubled his efforts to overthrow Aristide. He formed a rebel army called the National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation and Reconstruction of Haiti (Front pour la Libération et la reconstruction Nationales). Many of the rebels were former soldiers who resented Aristide for disbanding the armed forces in 1995.

Prominent leaders of the Front included Louis Jodel Chamberlain, a former army officer who headed a paramilitary group responsible for the murder of thousands of Aristide’s supporters, and Gilberto Dragon, a former army officer who trained with Philippe in Ecuador and was suspected of having links to drug trafficking.

The coup began in early 2004, following a gang uprising in Gonaïves, a coastal city about 150 kilometers north of Port-au-Prince. Shortly afterward, Philippe’s motley rebel army crossed the border from the Dominican Republic into Haiti and gradually took control of the area. On February 22, the rebels captured Cap-Haïtien and marched toward the capital, Port-au-Prince. They encountered little resistance.

On February 29, 2004, Aristide resigned to appease the rebel army and was flown to the Central African Republic by the U.S. military. Aristide later claimed that he had been kidnapped by U.S. troops, a charge that U.S. diplomats denied.

Aristide was succeeded by the President of the Supreme Court of Haiti and new elections were scheduled for 2006. Philippe transformed his Revolutionary Front into a political movement and ran for president, but he lost spectacularly, obtaining only 1.9% of the vote. During the campaign, the US indicted Philippe on drug trafficking charges, although the charges remained confidential until 2017.

After the 2006 elections, Philippe evaded several police attempts to arrest him. In 2007, Haitian National Police, supported by 12 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents and equipped with five helicopters, carried out a large-scale raid on his property in Les Cayes, but they were unable to find Philippe. He reportedly fled and watched highlights of the raid on television from a nearby town.

After the raid, he kept a low profile and stayed close to his hometown of Pestel. In 2015, however, he successfully launched a bid to become senator for the department of Grand’Anse, a job that would grant him immunity from prosecution.

On January 5, just four days before he was sworn in as senator, Philippe was arrested by a joint operation between Haiti’s Anti-Drug Trafficking Brigade (BLTS) and the DEA, minutes after he gave a live radio interview. He was immediately extradited to the US.

Criminal activities

U.S. authorities charged Philippe with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States and laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking. In a plea agreement with U.S. authorities, Philippe pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering.

Philip also admitted that between 1999 and 2003, he accepted between $1.5 million and $3.5 million in bribes from Colombian drug traffickers in exchange for protecting drug shipments from law enforcement. Some of these funds were used to pay off corrupt Haitian National Police officers.

Philippe deposited money in repeated batches of less than $10,000 to avoid triggering anti-money laundering alerts, the U.S. Department of Justice said. He also transferred money through bank accounts in Ecuador and the United States to disguise the origins of the payments, and invested in properties and assets in Miami.

The judge ordered Philippe to pay $1.5 million in fines and jailed him for nine years. From prison, Philippe broke the terms of his plea agreement by appealing his verdict, claiming innocence and seeking $100 million in damages. The appeal was denied, and Philippe ultimately served six years before being repatriated to Haiti in November 2023.

Geography

The southern department of Grand’Anse remains Philippe’s stronghold and was the site of his successful 2016 bid for senator. The southern coast is also a frequent entrepot for cocaine from South America bound for the United States. Yet any politician, police officer or aspiring government official must also maintain contacts in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where gang leaders have strongholds.

Allies and enemies

Philippe has a shady group of allies. In 2024, he joined gang leaders including Jimmy Cherizier, aka “Barbecue,” to call for a “revolution” against then-President Ariel Henry. Philippe has also publicly mused about granting amnesty to Haiti’s gangs if he were to seize power, leading to speculation that he was actively working with Haiti’s formidable gang leaders.

In media interviews, Philippe described his gang ties as “not deep.”

During the 2024 meetings, Philippe was accompanied by armed members of the Protected Areas Security Brigade (BSAP), a rogue unit officially tasked with protecting Haiti’s national parks. Analysts say the BSAP has effectively become a paramilitary group. Moreover, many BSAP members are former soldiers who fought with Philippe during the 2004 coup, according to Jean Baptiste, a spokesman for demobilized soldiers.

BSAP agents have repeatedly clashed with Haitian national police. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) estimates that there are between 2,000 and 6,000 BSAP members, posing a significant challenge to Haiti’s security forces.

Official figures suggest there are 9,000 members of the Haitian National Police, although analysts estimate the number of officers actually available for duty at only 3,000. The source of weapons for the BSAP remains unknown.

Outlook

Analysts consulted by InSight Crime called Philippe a wildcard for Haiti, straddling the worlds of politics, paramilitarism and organized crime. In 2024, Philippe called for a “revolution” against former President Ariel Henry, who has since stepped down. He has also repeatedly signaled his continued presidential intentions.

Although not in power, Philippe has influence and ties to the Haiti political party “Réveil National”. It is not publicly known whether Philippe also has contacts with drug trafficking networks or significant ties to the country’s criminal gangs.

With his support among Haitian voters, his ties to former military officials and his record as a leader of coup attempts, Philippe could be a formidable opponent for a future Haitian government.