What’s behind the escalating violence in Haiti?

A horrific, hours-long gang attack in Haiti a few days ago left dozens dead, homes and cars set on fire and thousands of others running for their lives. It was the final blow for a country that has suffered from extreme violence for years.

The early morning attack on Thursday in the central Haitian city of Pont-Sonde was launched by members of the Gran Grif gang. They shot at least 70 people, including babies, as the Caribbean island nation struggles to quell long-standing lawlessness that has been exacerbated by the 2021 killing of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise.

Gran Grif, one of Haiti’s lesser-known gangs, is led by Luckson Elan, who took responsibility for Thursday morning’s massacre. In an audio message shared on social media, Elan claimed his foot soldiers were taking revenge on locals who allegedly helped a vigilante group that stopped the gang from extorting money on a nearby major highway.

Last week, Elan, 36, was sanctioned by the US government along with former Haitian lawmaker Prophane Victor, who is accused of forming and arming local criminal gangs.

“Victor and Elan, through their influence or leadership over Haiti’s gangs, have attempted to perpetuate horrific violence and instability,” the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement last week.

Gran Grif is the largest gang in Haiti’s Artibonite department, in a region home to much of the country’s rice fields, according to security analysts. The gang was formed after Victor began providing weapons to young men in the town of Petite Riviere, and is known for committing gender-based violence, including the rape of women and children.

Haitian gangs have grown in power as the former French colony’s government has been weakened. They have stepped into the vacuum while expanding their control over key roads and other infrastructure. They are involved in a range of criminal activities, including extortion and trafficking in weapons and drugs.

One of the country’s best-known gangsters is 46-year-old Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier, a former police officer. The United Nations has accused him of taking part in several massacres, including the killing of dozens of people in 2018 when hundreds of homes were torched in the capital’s La Saline neighborhood.

In 2020, Cherizier announced the creation of a gang alliance called G9 Family and Allies, which brought together nine gangs from the capital area. Under his leadership, the alliance took control of Haiti’s main fuel port earlier this year, crippling transportation and depriving large swathes of the population, including hospitals, of the fuel supplies needed to power generators.

The Haitian government has struggled for decades to provide basic services, especially security. The national police has a shortage of weapons and is chronically understaffed. Thousands of officers have been lost in recent years; many have been fired while others have fled the country.

Severe economic problems, characterized by high inflation and poor harvests, have exacerbated the situation, pushing almost half the population into acute hunger, while some parts of the country are on the brink of famine according to international organizations.

The deteriorating security situation coincided with the prolonged absence of local elections.

Earlier this month, the country’s interim presidential council established a provisional electoral body, a step toward reviving elections and hopes for a more stable government. The body’s tentative plan is to hold elections in 2026, ten years after they were last held.

Last week, the UN Security Council unanimously agreed to authorize for another year an international security force aimed at helping local police fight gangs and ensure peace and order.

But the long-delayed security force has been slow to deploy and relies on voluntary contributions. So far, the mission has made little progress in helping restore order in Haiti, with only about 400 mostly Kenyan police officers on the ground.

In addition to U.S. funding and Kenya’s initial deployment, Benin, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Belize have also pledged to send at least 2,900 troops, but those additions have barely materialized.

Haiti’s previous government first requested the troop two years ago. Since then, the gangs have taken over much of the capital and expanded into surrounding areas, sparking a humanitarian crisis with mass displacement of around 11 million people across the country.

A woman is helped by others as she reacts to seeing the dead body of her brother who was shot dead by unknown assailants on September 9, 2024 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol/File Photo Kenyan police patrol a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on September 4, 2024. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol/File Photo