Gonaïves, June 29, 2024
Open letter to Mr. Normil Rameau, Director General of the National Police Subject: To draw the attention of the Director General to the need for urgent action regarding the serious insecurity problem in the Artibonite department.
Mr. Normil Rameau,
We, committed citizens and organizations of the Artibonite department who signed this letter, welcome your return as new director general of the national police. We take the responsibility to draw your attention to the need to quickly take measures to address the security problem in the Artibonite department, a situation which is paralyzing the department at all levels.
It is important to remind you that for about eight years, a situation of generalized insecurity has reigned throughout the country, which has turned into real terror in the last five years. Criminal gangs have taken the two largest departments of the country hostage: the West and the Artibonite. In the Artibonite in particular, the gangs are destroying lives in several communes. They kill, kidnap, rape, destroy citizens’ property and force people to abandon their homes, as is the case in the West department. Since Anel Joseph’s gang settled in the commune of Dessalines in 2018, we can say that it is a contagion that has spread in the Artibonite department, particularly in the valley.
In the department, among the most ferocious gangs, known to all, we can cite: the Savyen Gang located in the commune of Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite, Kokorat San Ras located in La Croix Périsse in L’Estère with an offshoot of the 5 Star gang in Mapou Lagon and Ti Bwadòm in the commune of Gros-Morne, the Delije Gang in the commune of Montrouis. These criminal groups, and others that we have not mentioned, surround the department and have established relationships with each other without forgetting the close links they have developed with the gangs of the West department.
The actions of these gangs are unimaginable. These criminal groups kidnap all kinds of people. They demand large sums of money that families do not have and subject them to abuses only seen among the most dangerous terrorist groups in some countries. Some hostages are burned with plastic, left to suffer without food until they starve to death. Criminals sometimes charge several ransoms and then kill the hostages. Gang atrocities call for a strong response.
Even the police officers, who are supposed to track down these criminal groups, are not spared. We remember how the gangs killed and humiliated the corpses of several police officers. On January 25, 2023, six police officers were killed by the Savyen gang in Liancourt. They seized their bodies and all the equipment they had. Since this event, the Liancourt and Petite Rivière police stations have been abandoned, there is no longer any police presence in these areas, thus giving free rein to the gangs to operate as they wish.
These criminal activities have brought the Artibonite department to its knees. A department which is the breadbasket of Haiti. Today, the farmers of the valley can no longer carry out their usual activities. Where the gangs have not yet driven out the inhabitants, they have taken control of the water and irrigation canals necessary for their crops, thus increasing the already existing social and economic misery. The entire national road number 1 is under the control of gangs, from Canaan, via Delije, Carrefour Péï and Kokorat San Ras to La Croix Périsse sur L’Estère. Schools, hospitals, public markets… no longer operate in several municipalities in Artibonite such as Petite Rivière, Liancourt, L’Estère, Montrouis. The gangs seem determined to destroy life in the department, plunging peaceful citizens into an unbearable situation.
We, committed citizens and organizations of the Artibonite department, who took the initiative to write this open letter, Mr. Director General, are counting a lot on the rapid measures that you will take to allow life to resume its course. normal in Haiti and in Artibonite in particular. It is clear that the previous leaders of the PNH and the DDA of Artibonite never did much to alleviate the suffering of citizens. Their cries never reached their ears. It is true that efforts were made under certain DDAs to limit gang activity in the department.
In collaboration with the people of the valley, the police eliminated the main leader of the Savyen gang, Odma. Two other lieutenants, Lodè and Goliath, were also eliminated. These efforts were not continued because higher-level police management preferred to remove these departmental directors instead of giving them the means to track down gangs. The current departmental police director, Mr. Paul Menard, has never made an effort to really address the problem of insecurity. On the contrary, the situation has worsened under his leadership.
This is why we are writing this open letter to draw your attention to the urgency of the situation in Artibonite. We also want to tell you that the work is immense. The security project is the first area where people are waiting for a signal. This signal must come with the first measures that you will take to bring about changes at the level of the DDA of Artibonite. We cannot count on those who are in place and who have never shown sensitivity to the suffering of the people, much less taken measures to solve the problem. We believe that there is no problem that the police cannot solve with the will at the highest level.
Therefore, we are counting on your dedication, your will and your responsibility to get Artibonite out of the clutches of these criminals who have been stifling it for too long.
Hoping that our approach will attract your attention and that you will respond to our requests, Mr. Director General, we salute you patriotically in the name of our ancestors!
Individuals and organizations signing this letter:
Ravel NORGAISSE: Committed citizen
Luc Wans DUVALSAINT: Committed citizen
André SAINT-LOUIS, Tech-Agr, General Coordinator of the Initiative Committee for Peace in Artibonite (KILBA)
Reynald EXANTUS: Committed citizen, University professor
Paul André GARÇONNET: Member of the management of Artibonite Debout pour Haïti (LAKAY)
Dorvensley DORMÉUS: Member of the Chemin Clair Political Bloc (BPCKL)
Prévilmond MONT-FLEURY: Clear Path Political Bloc (BPCKL)
Serge DESROCHES: Artibonite Youth Movement (MJL)
Junior Boisrond EMMANUEL: Association of Youth for the Development of Lower Artibonite (AJDPB)
Nouvolib AYIBOHIO: Committed artist
Nelio PETIT-HOMME: Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of the Masses (MORELIM)
Myrtholet ACCIDE : CHACHOM
Rigaud VELUMAT: Artibonite Stand Up for Haiti (LAKAY)
Wilguens SAINT-JEAN: Committed citizen, Teacher
Chesny SENATE: Committed citizen, Teacher
Cauvin PLAISIR: Committed citizen, Writer
Donald NOELSAINT: Committed citizen, Writer
Max André MERTIL: Committed citizen, Teacher
Gaby CHARLES: Member of the Chemin Clair Political Bloc (BPCKL)
Jean Noé DESTRA : Talking Drum Kombit
James DUPERVAL: President Lestère First
Max Leventaire SAINT LOUIS: Konbit Citizen for Community Safety (KOSEK)
Marc Tilus ESTIMATED: Konbit Citizen for Community Safety (KOSEK)
Solidarity Fund for the Development of Mont-Rouis (CSDM): Jean Pierre FRITZ
Anuel Fortuné: Real Strength Saint-Marc
Grouping of workers for inclusive development (RTDI): Prospeline JOSEPH MARC
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