‘Barbecue’ gangster attacking Haiti burns people alive and feeds them to animals

Haiti’s most notorious gang leader has vowed to oust the country’s prime minister as a spike in gang violence has plunged the Caribbean nation into chaos.

A state of emergency was declared after thousands of “dangerous” inmates escaped Haiti’s two largest prisons over the weekend when gangs launched a series of coordinated attacks that have left at least a dozen dead. The heavily armed groups are being led by Haiti‘s most powerful gang boss, Jimmy Cherizier.

Cherizier, who’s known by the nickname “Barbecue”, is a former former officer in the Haitian National Police (HNP). He previously worked for the Unit for the Maintenance of Order, who are deployed during unrest or protests.

READ MORE: Thousands escape Haiti jail in ‘massacre’ as gangs led by ‘Barbecue’ mob boss lay siege

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But he was fired from the police force in 2018 after allegedly orchestrating the massacre of dozens of people in the La Saline neighbourhood, according to the United Nations. The four-day bloodbath saw 71 people killed, 400 homes burned down and at least seven women were raped.

The fearsome gang leader has faced sanctions from both the United Nations Security Council and the US Treasury Department. Chérizier was born in Port-au-Prince’s Delmas next to the slums of La Saline and is one of eight children.

His father died when he was five and the gang boss claims he got his “Barbecue” nickname because his mother was a street vendor who sold fried chicken. But it’s alleged the moniker actually comes from the massacres he’s been accused of masterminding, which left people burned alive.

Since 2020 he’s been running a powerful group of Haitian gangs known as the G9, who are believed to be more heavily armed than Haiti’s police force. The group initially consisted of nine gangs from Cite Soleil, La Saline and lower Delmas but has since reportedly expanded to include more than a dozen.

Chérizier has dubbed them a “revolutionary force”, who seek to overthrow wealthy officials and fight for improved rights for people living in poverty. But Chérizier has been accused of leading them on bloody massacres.

In 2020, the US Treasury Department accused him of “planning and participating” in the 2018 La Saline attack, which they said saw gang members removing “victims, including children, from their homes to be executed and then dragged them into the streets where their bodies were burned, dismembered and fed to animals“.

The department said Chérizier also led “coordinated, brutal attacks” in Port-au-Prince throughout 2018 and 2019 and that in 2020 he planned a five-day attack in multiple Port-au-Prince neighbourhoods in which homes were set on fire and multiple civilians were killed.

Then in 2021, the UN accused him of threatening Haiti’s “peace, security and stability,” as well as “planning, directing or committing” serious “human rights abuses.” Chérizier has an outstanding warrant out for his arrest for his alleged role in the 2017 Grande Ravine massacre, which killed at least nine people.

In 2022, the G9 blocked the entrance to the vital Varreux fuel terminal, which supplies most of Haiti’s oil. The UN has said the group “have directly contributed to the economic paralysis and humanitarian crisis” in the country.

President Jovenal Moise, whose administration was accused of corruption, allegedly turned a blind eye to Chérizier’s rise in power. But following his assassination in July 2021, the country has been in turmoil as gangs cause terror on the streets.

Gang violence has continued to wreak havoc under the rule of Ariel Henry, who took over as prime minister following President Moise’s assassination. Tensions have mounted since he broke his pledge to step down and hold elections by February 7.

Sunday’s prison breaks came as Henry was in Kenya signing a security deal to tackle the escalating gang violence in the country. But in response, Chérizier has called on gangs to work together to overthrow the prime minister.

“We ask the Haitian National Police and the military to take responsibility and arrest Ariel Henry. Once again, the population is not our enemy; the armed groups are not your enemy. You arrest Ariel Henry for the country’s liberation,” he said.

Chérizier has denied taking part in massacres and claims he is a revolutionary. “We are fighting for another society – another Haiti that is not only for the 5% of the people who keep all the wealth, but a new Haiti where everyone can have food and clean water, so they can have a decent house to live, another Haiti where we don’t have to leave the country,” he told Al Jazeera in 2021.

He added: “I’m not a gangster. I never will be a gangster. It’s the system I’m fighting against today. The system has a lot of money; they own the media. Now they try to make me look like a gangster.”