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Gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, who has chillingly now become known as ‘Barbeque’, has previously threatened civil war and genocide as the crisis in Haiti escalated to alarming levels.
05:48 ET, Fri, May 3, 2024 | UPDATED: 11:12 ET, Fri, May 3, 2024
Haiti’s gangs have burned down houses (Image: Getty)
Gangs in Haiti have launched brutal attacks again in the capital Port-au-Prince as the new transitional government comes under fire for doing nothing to calm tensions.
The gangs forced former Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign by storming the main airport in Haiti and breaking thousands of criminals out of prison.
Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier, the most prominent gang leader, even threatened a “genocide” and a “civil war” if Henry did not step down.
After the former leader agreed to resign, a transitional council was formed to lead the country between now and the planned elections.
But the gangs have only ramped up their violence, as told by terrified locals on the ground.
READ MORE: Haiti gang leader Barbecue warns country to ‘brace itself’ for violence
Haiti has been impacted b violence for years (Image: Getty)
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Speaking to the Associated Press, a man called Néne said: “The gangs started burning everything in sight. I was hiding in a corner all night.”
Paul Pierre, 47, who was walking with his partner in search of shelter after their house was burned down, added: “There were gunshots left and right.”
Martineda, a woman who declined to give her last name out of fear, was left homeless after armed gunmen torched her home. She also has a four-year-old son.
The woman said: “I told him, ‘Don’t be scared. This is life in Haiti.'”
Asked to recount what had happened overnight, she said: “Gunfire, gunfire, gunfire everywhere! No one slept. Everyone was running.”
The attacks were the biggest and most violent since Henry resigned. Hundreds had to flee their homes as a result.
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Gangs now control the capital Port-au-Prince (Image: Getty)
Violence in Haiti has been a problem for decades. In the last few years, it has worsened following the murder of the country’s president Jovenel Moise in 2021. Armed gangs now control 80 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince.
The UN’s top expert on human rights in Haiti said in April that the country is an “open-air prison” and is in an “apocalyptic” state.
William O’Neill said: “I know someone who lost half her family to [former dictator] François Duvalier’s execution squads and she said she’s never seen it this bad. Uncles, cousins, brothers killed – and she said it’s never been this bad.
“I’m running out of words frankly at this point … it’s apocalyptic, it’s like the end of times.
“[There’s] a level of intensity and cruelty in the violence that is simply unprecedented in my experience in Haiti.”
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