Even more confusing is that both the bourgeois opposition and its leftist followers conflate the kidnapping gangs with those organized to stop kidnapping in their neighborhoods and beyond, sort of armed “vigilance brigades” on steroids.
The most visible spokesman of this sector is Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, an ex-cop who guards the Delmas 6 neighborhood where he grew up. He got his nickname because the neighborhood had three boys named Jimmy, so, because his mother sold barbecued meat, he became known as “Jimmy Barbecue.” Until just over two years ago, Cherizier was a gung-ho officer in the Departmental Unit for the Maintenance of Order (UDMO), which is deployed precisely to stamp out gang activity, dismantle road barricades, and deal with popular unrest.
Cherizier was part of about 200 Haitian police officers who, under the supervision of the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Hait (MINUJUSTH) police force, raided the Grand Ravine neighborhood in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2017 to root out gang activity, including kidnapping.
As he tells it, Cherizier’s UDMO unit was deployed with several other police units in the early morning hours. After making arrests in Grand Ravine, his unit was called to provide backup to another UDMO unit at the Maranatha College campus. Tipped off by the school’s director, he and other officers went to retrieve two automatic long guns hidden by the local gang in a school depot. Unknown to the policemen, gang members were also inside the depot and opened fire when one of the cops went to unlock a door inside the depot. Two UDMO policemen were shot dead. Cherizier attempted to shoot into the room but had to retreat. The gang members who had been hiding in the room escaped. As other police units engaged the fleeing gang members and others, fighting engulfed the Maranatha College campus, where there was gunfire, teargas, and confusion.
There were conflicting reports, as usual, from the UN, Haitian police, and civilians. Whatever happened that day (Jake Johnston published a comprehensive report in The Intercept), the two policemen were killed along with at least nine civilians. Although one report claims there were signs of summary executions, Cherizier contends there were none.
According to Cherizier, the Haitian high command, after congratulating him, was terrified by human rights groups’ condemnation of the bloody confrontation. They denied responsibility for the raid, saying it was a rogue operation. When they summoned him for disciplinary review, he was sure that they would make him the fall-guy. He refused to respond to his summons.
Then, a year later on Nov. 13-17, 2018, there was another massacre in the slum of La Saline, a swath of concentrated poverty just west of Avenue Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the capital’s main thoroughfare. Haitian police accused Cherizier of being one of “the presumed authors” of the horrific attack, which reportedly involved rape and arson and left an unclear number of people (including children, witnesses say) dead. Human right groups put the death toll between 15 and 71.
Cherizier vehemently and categorically denies having any advance knowledge of or connection to the La Saline attack. Nonetheless, a 2019 U.S. State Department report says that “[a]ccording to MINUJUSTH, witnesses reported three police officers were seen with the gangs during the attack. Two of the officers, Gregory Antoine and Jimmy Cherizier, were dismissed from the [PNH] in December 2018.”
A Feb. 17, 2020 report by MINUJUSTH’s successor, the United Nations Integrated Bureau in Haiti (BINUH), reviewed another series of gang confrontations from Nov. 4-6, 2019 in Belair, a neighborhood not far from Delmas 6. “During three days, several attacks against the residents of Belair led by gang members resulted in three dead, including a gang leader, and six wounded,” the report said. “Around 30 houses and 11 cars were burned.”
The BINUH report refers to Belair as a “pro-opposition zone” in which Cherizier’s gang “was clearing roadblocks.” Such formulations imply that Cherizier’s gang was attacking Belair because of its anti-government leanings.
Cherizier says he was not personally involved in the November 2019 Belair attack but does not deny that Delmas 6 men fought against those in Belair. He claims it was in retaliation for an earlier attack from Belair on their neighborhood.
While proof, truth, and clarity remain elusive, Cherizier has become the foremost bogeyman in Haiti of both Washington and the United Nations, and in February 2019, the PNH issued a warrant for his arrest. Over two years later, he still remains free.
[The account of the 2017 Grand Ravine confrontation between police and gangs has been updated. Widespread reports of government cash and land grants to Andy Apaid, a Jovenel Moïse supporter, have since proved to be false.]
The Anti-kidnapping “Gangs” Source
Even more confusing is that both the bourgeois opposition and its leftist followers conflate the kidnapping gangs with those organized to stop kidnapping in their neighborhoods and beyond, sort of armed “vigilance brigades” on steroids.
The most visible spokesman of this sector is Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, an ex-cop who guards the Delmas 6 neighborhood where he grew up. He got his nickname because the neighborhood had three boys named Jimmy, so, because his mother sold barbecued meat, he became known as “Jimmy Barbecue.” Until just over two years ago, Cherizier was a gung-ho officer in the Departmental Unit for the Maintenance of Order (UDMO), which is deployed precisely to stamp out gang activity, dismantle road barricades, and deal with popular unrest.
Cherizier was part of about 200 Haitian police officers who, under the supervision of the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Hait (MINUJUSTH) police force, raided the Grand Ravine neighborhood in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2017 to root out gang activity, including kidnapping.
As he tells it, Cherizier’s UDMO unit was deployed with several other police units in the early morning hours. After making arrests in Grand Ravine, his unit was called to provide backup to another UDMO unit at the Maranatha College campus. Tipped off by the school’s director, he and other officers went to retrieve two automatic long guns hidden by the local gang in a school depot. Unknown to the policemen, gang members were also inside the depot and opened fire when one of the cops went to unlock a door inside the depot. Two UDMO policemen were shot dead. Cherizier attempted to shoot into the room but had to retreat. The gang members who had been hiding in the room escaped. As other police units engaged the fleeing gang members and others, fighting engulfed the Maranatha College campus, where there was gunfire, teargas, and confusion.
There were conflicting reports, as usual, from the UN, Haitian police, and civilians. Whatever happened that day (Jake Johnston published a comprehensive report in The Intercept), the two policemen were killed along with at least nine civilians. Although one report claims there were signs of summary executions, Cherizier contends there were none.
According to Cherizier, the Haitian high command, after congratulating him, was terrified by human rights groups’ condemnation of the bloody confrontation. They denied responsibility for the raid, saying it was a rogue operation. When they summoned him for disciplinary review, he was sure that they would make him the fall-guy. He refused to respond to his summons.
Then, a year later on Nov. 13-17, 2018, there was another massacre in the slum of La Saline, a swath of concentrated poverty just west of Avenue Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the capital’s main thoroughfare. Haitian police accused Cherizier of being one of “the presumed authors” of the horrific attack, which reportedly involved rape and arson and left an unclear number of people (including children, witnesses say) dead. Human right groups put the death toll between 15 and 71.
Cherizier vehemently and categorically denies having any advance knowledge of or connection to the La Saline attack. Nonetheless, a 2019 U.S. State Department report says that “[a]ccording to MINUJUSTH, witnesses reported three police officers were seen with the gangs during the attack. Two of the officers, Gregory Antoine and Jimmy Cherizier, were dismissed from the [PNH] in December 2018.”
A Feb. 17, 2020 report by MINUJUSTH’s successor, the United Nations Integrated Bureau in Haiti (BINUH), reviewed another series of gang confrontations from Nov. 4-6, 2019 in Belair, a neighborhood not far from Delmas 6. “During three days, several attacks against the residents of Belair led by gang members resulted in three dead, including a gang leader, and six wounded,” the report said. “Around 30 houses and 11 cars were burned.”
The BINUH report refers to Belair as a “pro-opposition zone” in which Cherizier’s gang “was clearing roadblocks.” Such formulations imply that Cherizier’s gang was attacking Belair because of its anti-government leanings.
Cherizier says he was not personally involved in the November 2019 Belair attack but does not deny that Delmas 6 men fought against those in Belair. He claims it was in retaliation for an earlier attack from Belair on their neighborhood.
While proof, truth, and clarity remain elusive, Cherizier has become the foremost bogeyman in Haiti of both Washington and the United Nations, and in February 2019, the PNH issued a warrant for his arrest. Over two years later, he still remains free.
[The account of the 2017 Grand Ravine confrontation between police and gangs has been updated. Widespread reports of government cash and land grants to Andy Apaid, a Jovenel Moïse supporter, have since proved to be false.]