DEA withdraws from Haiti as gangs continue to finance their activities through drug trafficking

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is closing its field office in Haiti, despite growing concerns about drug trafficking in the country. The decision comes as Haiti, ravaged by armed gangs, has become a major transit country for drugs such as South American cocaine and cannabis from Jamaica.

President Joe Biden recently added Haiti to a list of 23 countries designated as “major drug transit or illicit drug producing countries.” This list includes thirteen Latin American countries, such as Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela, which, the list claims, facilitate drug trafficking. human trafficking or serving as a source of prohibited substances. It also includes Caribbean countries such as Jamaica and Belize.

Either way, the administration is reallocating DEA resources to focus on global supply chains of synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl, rather than the drugs smuggled through Haiti, largely cocaine and marijuana.

Speaking to the Miami Herald, Luis Moreno, a former State Department official with extensive experience in Latin American narcotics control, called the DEA’s decision “shortsighted.” He stressed that Haitian gangs, which control large parts of the territory, are increasingly financing their violent activities with drug money. Moreno and other experts worry that the DEA’s absence will weaken the U.S. ability to track and combat the operations of these gangs and their ties to cartels in South America and Mexico.

A DEA spokesperson also told the station that the decision was part of a broader review of foreign operations, which resulted in the closure of 14 offices, including in the Bahamas and Nicaragua. The agency plans to open new offices elsewhere in the world to focus on tackling the global fentanyl crisis. Jordan and Albania have been put forward as potential locations.

The DEA’s withdrawal is seen as a potential blow to efforts to control drug trafficking and gang violence in Haiti. Gang leaders, such as Izo from the 5 Segond group, are increasingly positioning themselves as regional drug lords and openly calling themselves cartel leaders. The flow of firearms and drugs into the country facilitated by these gangs has contributed to the destabilization of Haiti, and international criminal networks are suspected of having links to groups in Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.

The DEA’s closure of his office also hampers U.S. sanctions against Haitian politicians and businessmen suspected of gang involvement. These sanctions, often related to drug trafficking, require detailed local knowledge, which the DEA field office provided.

Haiti’s fight against drug trafficking is not new. The country’s role as a narco-state began in the 1980s, when Colombian cartels used the country as a transit point for cocaine bound for the United States. However, over time the number of arrests has decreased, raising concerns about the effectiveness of anti-drug efforts. Recent incidents, such as the arrest of four Colombians in connection with cocaine smuggling, highlight the ongoing cartel activity in the country.

The decision also comes as the UN warns of growing organized crime in the Caribbean, including the Turks and Caicos Islands, which has seen a sharp increase in Haitian migration and drug-related violence. Amid Haiti’s shocking levels of violence, poverty and malnutrition, children are in extreme danger. Nearly three million children in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance, the highest number ever recorded, according to UNICEF.