The UN Security Council decided on Friday (21) to impose a series of sanctions involving asset freezes, travel bans and embargoes against “anyone who threatens the stability or peace of Haiti”. The resolution was presented by the United States and Mexico and unanimously approved by the 15 members of the body, the most powerful in the entity.
The main target of the measures is the biggest trafficker on the Caribbean island, Jimmy Cherizier – nicknamed Barbecue, barbecue in English. A former police officer, he leads the G9 group, which brings together nine Haitian factions, and often presents himself as a political leader.
The resolution accuses Cherizier of violating human rights and promoting violence in the territory. According to the text, gangs under his command were responsible for blocking the entrance to the port of Varreux, the main gateway for imported products into the country, a month ago. The action was justified as a protest against the government’s order to end fuel subsidies.
The seizure of the port has led to a shortage of bottled water at a time when the country is experiencing a new outbreak of cholera, which has been brought under control with intensified hygiene measures. Meanwhile, a lack of fuel caused transport chaos and forced businesses and hospitals to shut down.
The sanctions imposed by the UN now follow a somewhat ambiguous speech by the secretary-general of the entity, António Guterres, a week ago. At the time, he proposed “a rapid action force” to help the Haitian police confront the armed groups, but did not indicate whether the entity itself would lead this initiative.
“We are sending a clear message to the villains who are holding Haiti hostage: the international community will not stand by while you wreak havoc,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a speech after the vote.
She described the sanctions as an “initial response to cries for help” from Haitians, who face an imminent humanitarian disaster. He added that the committee should soon approve another decision related to Haiti, this time aiming to establish an independent mission to guarantee security and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the nation, the poorest in the Americas.
Although the ambassador has not set the date on which the new text will be presented for a vote, other diplomats say that this could happen as early as next week.
Some Haitians are against further interference from abroad, as they consider the peace mission sent by the UN to work in the country between 2004 and 2017 to be traumatic. rape by members of UN troops and brought cholera to the island, giving rise to an epidemic that claimed nearly 10,000 victims.
One of the biggest protests in this regard took place in Port-au-Prince last week, days after Prime Minister Ariel Henry formally asked the international community for a “specialized armed force” to “stop, throughout the territory” the actions of gangs.
In acts that ended with clashes against the police, protesters took a stand against the prospect of a new foreign intervention and demanded the resignation of the prime minister – considered illegitimate by the population since he took office in the wake of the assassination of then President Jovenel Moïse.
The murder and the political crisis it precipitated represented the last blow to a nation that was already dealing, among others, with the resurgence of violent conflicts between gangs, the Covid pandemic, the passage of tropical cyclones, in addition to the destruction left by the earthquake that shook the island last year, the deadliest in a decade.
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