PORT-AU-PRINCE (Miami Herald) — A rebooted effort in Haiti to disarm the country’s criminal gangs and reintegrate child soldiers into society is getting put on hold. The government of the volatile country, whose armed gangs have been deemed by the Trump administration to be a global menace, is temporarily dissolving a disarmament commission after concerns were raised over the credibility of one of its newest appointees.
The decision was confirmed to the Miami Herald by the head of the Transitional Presidential Council, Fritz Alphonse Jean, on Friday, hours after the Trump administration designated several Haitian gangs as foreign and global terrorists and after the National Human Rights Defense Network blasted a decision to expand the National Commission for Disarmament, Dismantling and Reinsertion by bringing on board its former commissioner.
The purpose of the commission is to help reintegrate the young people and children. who are increasingly being recruited by armed groups and to facilitate the disarmament of armed groups. “
The presidential council took a resolution to dissolve the [commission] in the next minister council meeting until more additional consultations with civil society organizations and personalities in the public and private sectors,” Jean said.
On Wednesday, Jean and his fellow council members appointed Jean Rebel Dorcénat, the former head of the commission and another individual to the group to bring the total membership to nine after seven others were appointed in February. The moves, Jean, said were made “in good faith.” However, the head of the National Human Rights Defense Network, Pierre Esperance, accused the council of “compensating” Dorcénat for his alleged ties to gangs and called on the council to reverse course.
Dorcénat previously served as head of the commission after it was reactivated by Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Formed by executive order in 2006, its task is to disarm and dismantle gangs, a job that brings its members into contact with armed groups and their leaders. However, Dorcénat has long faced criticisms and accusations of being sympathetic to gang leaders based on radio nterviews he has given on the radio, and the access he has been alleged to have.
Dorcénat could not be reached for comment, but in the past he has said that his comments — and role as head of the commission — have been misinterpreted, including those about his role in uniting the capital’s main gang leaders under the G-9 Family and Allies umbrella. The alliance is headed by former policeman Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, who in September 2023 joined forces with other gang leaders to help create Viv Ansanm, the powerful coalition sowing chaos in Port-au-Prince and whose name translates to Living Together.
A 2020 article in Haiti’s Le Nouvelliste newspaper, following a radio interview Dorcénat did on its Magik 9 radio station, quoted him as assisting in the formation of the G-9 by asking Chérizier and other gang leaders to come together under a single platform in order to better facilitate negotiations with them. “They are federated because we have a job to do with them,” he was quoted as saying at the time. He added that the goal was to stop the gangs from killing.
Esperance, who blasted the decision in a letter to Jean and the council, said the consolidation of Haiti’s gangs has given birth to a coalition of murderers and kidnappers who have forced tens of thousands of people from their homes, led to the lost of thousands of lives and livelihoods and brought an entire nation to its knees.
“Everyone can see that after the gangs federated, they became more heavily armed, and were implicated in more kidnappings and carried out more massacres,” Esperance said. “At this moment, when the United Nations has taken sanctions against them and the U.S. has designated them as terrorists, for the [Transitional Presidential Council] to put him on the disarmament commission—this is a slap in the face of all of the victims and to everyone who is living under the terror of the gangs.”
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which includes the G-9 and 26 other armed groups, and the Gran Grif gang, operating in Haiti’s Artibonite region, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The label gives the U.S. wide latitude and opens anyone providing material support to sanctions, criminal charges and deportations if they live in the United States. They can also be banned from entering the U.S.
The designations was met with few public statements but lots of private chatter as many people in Haiti’s business and humanitarian communities try to understand the meaning and implications for their dealings in the country.
In a joint statement, two political entities in Haiti said they welcome the “historic decision” but added it doesn’t go far enough. The designations need to be accompanied by an international plan aimed “at effectively eradicating in the coming months criminal groups that have taken our beautiful country hostage,” the statement signed by four leaders representing the groups known as the December 21 coalition and the EDE political party said. Earlier this year, both asked the Trump administration to label Haitian gangs as foreign terrorists.
Jean, the president of the ruling council, said the designation is a recognition of the complexity of the country’s ongoing crisis, but also presents a conundrum given armed gangs tightening grip and recent expansion into other regions of the country, which has led to millions of Haitians requiring humanitarian assistance.
But as the country relied on international assistance such as the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission to support the Haitian national police and Haiti’s small armed forces, Jean said, “we believe that our international partners did not fully comprehend the full extent of the crisis and the nature of the violence in Haiti.
The foreign terrorist designation, he said, “is a recognition of the reality of the crisis we are facing.”
By JACQUELINE CHARLES/Miami Herald
