Haiti Crisis: Mob Burns Suspected Gang Members to Death

Facts

• Thirteen suspected gang members were burned to death Monday by a mob in Haiti's capital after being seized while police searched their vehicle. The suspects were reportedly beaten with gasoline-soaked tires before being set alight in Port-au-Prince.¹
• The violence was a grim reminder of the lawless situation in Port-au-Prince, where criminal gangs have taken control over an estimated 60% of the city since the July 2021 assassination of Pres. Jovenel Moïse.²
• Haiti police said officers in the Canape Vert section stopped and searched a minibus for contraband. They confiscated weapons from suspects before they were "unfortunately lynched by members of the population."³
• Six more burned bodies were found in a nearby neighborhood later on Monday. Residents claimed that police officers had killed them and that residents had burned the bodies, but the accounts were unable to be verified independently.⁴
• According to witnesses, the suspects were believed to have been members of a gang called Kraze Barye, which translates to Breaking Barriers. The leader of the group is Vitel’Homme Innocent, who is accused of helping kidnap 17 US missionaries in October 2021 and is also a suspect involved in the assassination of Moïse.⁵
• Over six days in late April, more than 70 people were killed in clashes between gang members in Haiti's largest slum, Cité Soleil. About 40 of the dead were shot or stabbed; two were children. The UN's secretary general, Antonio Guterres, suggested that Haiti's security situation is “comparable to countries in armed conflict."⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²VOA, ³FOX News, ⁴Los Angeles Times, ⁵ABC News, and ⁶Guardian.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Archive. The political, social, and humanitarian situation in Haiti has deteriorated since Moïse's assassination. The National Police has been challenged by gangs with control over territory, highways, ports, and the delivery of humanitarian aid. Homicides and kidnappings are up, and gang-related violence is threatening national security and stability. Haiti needs more foreign assistance to resolve its problems.
• Narrative B, as provided by Devex. The Security Council is suffering from Haiti fatigue. Nothing is moving forward. There is a reluctance to send foreign troops to Haiti because of a deepening skepticism that Haiti can prosper, even with billions of dollars of foreign aid and security support. It also dredges up bad memories about an earlier UN peacekeeping mission, whose blue helmets were involved in a serious cholera outbreak and became embroiled in a series of sexual exploitation scandals.

Predictions