The United States strongly condemns the statements of August 17, 2023 by former police officer Jimmy Cherizier alias "Barbecue" Leader of the most powerful coalition of gangs in Haiti "G9 Family and Allies" https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40275-haiti-flash-foreign-intervention-barbecue-warns-and-threatens-video.html where he had declared in particular :

"[...] If the foreign forces arrive, they arrest the oligarchs, politicians and corrupt politicians who sell weapons and ammunition to the populations of the disadvantaged neighborhoods, I will applaud them."

"[...] If the first thing they do when they arrive in the country is to arrest [Haitian Prime Minister] Ariel Henry, we will applaud the foreign force. If we see them working to restore security to the country so that life can return to normal, we will applaud them."

But he warned that he would fight any international armed forces deployed in Haiti if they committed abuses.

"If the foreign forces arrive in 2023 or 2024, and we see them sexually assaulting women, raping young boys like the Uruguayan soldiers did in 2004… If that is what they come to do in the neighborhoods underprivileged, in addition to opening fire on us, killing people or massacring them, we Haitians will fight them until our last drop of blood [...]"

"The US government condemns in the strongest possible terms the actions and statements of gang leaders like Cherizier who have paralyzed much of Port-au-Prince and the Artibonite department and displaced more than 100,000 Haitians," said a State Department spokesperson.

He recalled that the United States had imposed sanctions on Cherizier for his involvement in the La Saline massacre where at least 71 people died following the violent attack carried out against residents of the poor district of Port-au-Prince. in 2018. Cherizier was also designated under a United Nations Security Council resolution for his role in the economic and humanitarian crisis that crippled Haiti by imposing the blockade of the largest oil terminal in the capital (Varreux), which triggered a national fuel shortage...

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40275-haiti-flash-foreign-intervention-barbecue-warns-and-threatens-video.html

SL/ HaitiLibre