Laying lawns, installing an air conditioning system… images obtained by AyiboPost demonstrate the rapid progress of construction in the Village de Dieu, while the Viv Ansanm coalition, to which Izo is a member, burns down citizens’ houses and destroys infrastructure at the bottom of the city of Port-au-Prince
Stanley had only one certainty: the areas near the National Penitentiary were still habitable, thanks to the reinforced protection around Haiti’s largest prison.
But when – attacked by bandits on March 2 – the armored vehicles responsible for guarding the center fled around six p.m., the translator knew that time was running out… if he wanted to survive.
In the din of the explosions, Stanley, his companion and dozens of neighbors rushed to the Champ de Mars, seeking refuge.
When he returned to see the damage four days later, almost all the houses around his apartment on Rue du Center had been burned down.
His small cold drinks business was robbed. “The only thing I was able to save were my identity documents,” the 39-year-old told AyiboPost.
A mechanic tries to recover certain elements of the vehicles which were set on fire by bandits on Sunday March 24/Port-au-Prince. | © Jean Féguens Regala/AyiboPost
Two days before the historic escapeJimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier had publicly launched a call for a “revolution” to “liberate the country” from the government of Ariel Henry, as well as “corrupt politicians and businessmen”.
The coalition of revolutionaries, strangely named “Viv Ansanm”, counts among its members, among other crime lords, Johnson “Izo” André, whose gang, established not far from the Penitentiary, has been terrorizing Port-au-Prince for years.
Kidnappings, rapes, assassinations, extortions at the southern entrance to the capital – the Village de Dieu gang would probably be, according to specialists, the richest and best armed in the country.
Its members regularly target areas near the Penitentiary, but the unprecedented attack on the prison center in early March triggered an unprecedented wave of violence against the surrounding populations.
Next to 86,000 people – including thousands of residents in lower town Port-au-Prince – have fled their homes, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
About a kilometer from the source of the violence, imperturbable workers continue their work in a large multi-story building in the Village de Dieu, according to images obtained between March 12 and April 1, 2024 by AyiboPost.
Patiently, workers are installing bright green lawns, at least one air conditioning system and glass windows, near a swimming pool at the bottom of which is engraved simply the name: “Izo”.
The gang leader does not hide his taste for luxury. In videos posted on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, he calls his opponents “scum”, and regularly shows off his collection of weapons and tactical equipment, as well as a party lifestyle where money, alcohol and sex flow freely. .
“Kidnapping is not enough to support so many expenses,” a source familiar with the gang’s operations told AyiboPost.
A 2024 United Nations report raises suspicions that the “Viv Ansanm” coalition is at the heart of a scheme to facilitate drug and arms trafficking in Haiti.
When the creation of the supergang was first announced in September 2023, a large shipment of cocaine was scheduled to transit Haiti. According to the source, Izo was to ensure the protection of the merchandise.
The drugs were apparently intercepted between Hinche and Maïssade.
Which, according to the source, would have led to an inter-gang conflict, leaving around thirty dead and hundreds displaced between September 22 and 25, 2023.
The gangs set fire to houses in the lower part of the city of Port-au-Prince.
Since then, no one had heard of “Viv Ansanm”… until the end of February 2024.
“Boats shuttle at night between the Village of God and Lafito,” the source familiar with the activities of the Izo gang continues to AyiboPost.
For the latter, the new meeting of “Viv Ansanm” would be just another fragile arrangement “to take advantage of the crisis”, by exploiting “transnational alliances” with traffickers in the region.
And in this configuration, “Vilaj and Ti Lapli” get the biggest share of the pie.
In mid-March, filmed footage posted online by the gang revealed armed, hooded men dressed in uniforms and displaying various tactical equipment.
“The training and weaponry exhibited by different members of the gang, notably from the Village of God Unit, as well as the financial capabilities of Izo place it at a different level from other criminal groups, including in its most great financial autonomy”, tells AyiboPost Romain Le-Cour-Grandmaison, who carries out research on Haiti for the Global Initiative against Transnational Crime based in Geneva.
In the weeks after the attack on the prison, the bandits had set up a toll point right in front of Rita Favéus’s home on Rue de l’Enterrement at the bottom of town.
The lady lost her eyesight at the end of 2022. But she held her ear, knowing that it is only a matter of time before the men of “Vilaj” come knocking at her door.
“They set fire to a neighbor’s house, then they searched our home, stealing everything of value along the way,” Favéus told AyiboPost.
The lady, her husband – a car washer, a baby and three children fled.
The gangs then set the fire.
“Bed, television, fan… Even my birth certificate was burned,” declares Favéus, who has since found himself at the Caroline Chauveau National School, transformed into temporary shelters in the Champ de Mars area. More than 2,300 people found refuge there.
In recent decades, the criminalization of the country – the most unequal in the Caribbean – has taken place with the help of political leaders and members of the country’s economic sector.
Today, most gangs are empowering themselves, according to des experts.
Since 2022, Canada has imposed sanctions against 28 members of the Haitian elite for corruption and shady relations with gangs.
In the list, we find former president Michel Joseph Martelly, his prime minister Laurent Lamothe or powerful businessmen like Reynold Deeb of the Deka Group company, Gilbert Bigio of GB Group or the insurer Sherif Abdallah.
According to the United Nations, Michel Martelly – having gained the presidency thanks to US support – had used “gangs [pendant son mandat] to extend its influence over neighborhoods to promote its political agenda, contributing to a legacy of insecurity whose impacts are still felt today.”
At less than thirty years old, Johnson “Izo” André is part of the last generation of gang leaders in the country. Few unarmed civilians live in the territory his group controls, unlike some other high-profile criminals.
The gangs set fire to houses and vehicles in the lower part of the city of Port-au-Prince.
His influence is not less, however. “In certain poor neighborhoods, Izo becomes the aspiration, and that is part of the problem,” a specialist in security issues in Haiti analyzes to AyiboPost.
The gang leader, an aspiring rapper, appears on the internet in overproduced videos sometimes viewed millions of times. “The voyeurism of certain international media contributes to the glorification of these gangs, helping them to recruit,” analyzes the specialist who requests anonymity for security reasons.
Bèbè was still at work in Delmas when she learned that her house was on fire near the Sylvio Cator Stadium on the afternoon of March 29.
The family member who was still in the home was able to escape. But the latter fell under an ambush from gangs: “They searched everyone,” testifies the lady.
In the days following these devastating attacks, most of the occupants of non-burnt houses attempted to return to Rue de la Réunion. After which the gangs returned and burned everything, according to several witnesses.
Armed gang members loot houses at the bottom of town.
A question torments Bèbè’s mind.
“How can they say they are fighting for the poor, when they use their weapons to expel us from our homes?” she asks.
The spokesperson for the “revolution”, Jimmy Chérizier, also asks questions about the distrust of the population.
After the burning of thousands of houses and the forced displacement of tens of thousands of citizens, Barbecue broadcast a video via WhatsApp from April 10 to criticize the people who, according to him, “do not recognize those who fight for them” .
To the poor, the leader of the “Viv Ansanm” coalition warns: “If you see us in the streets, move,” he orders, declaring that future deaths will be the fault of politicians.
Par Widlore Mérancourt et Wethzer Piercin
Cover image published by AyiboPost featuring powerful gang leaders from the Vi Ansanm coalition.
This article has been updated. 21.06 15.04.2024
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