Haiti is witnessing growing gang violence in current days. Armed gang members have tried to regulate the principle worldwide airport, and attacked police stations and prisons. The purpose is to get Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry eliminated. Earlier this month, Henry fled the nation. He is petitioning the worldwide neighborhood so a United Nations-backed safety power can step in. 

Who has claimed duty for the assaults? Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier, a former elite police officer who now runs a gang federation, has been main the continuing unrest.

Who is Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier?

Cherizier is the chief of the notorious ‘G9 and Family’ gang and has vowed to combat till Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigns. “I am ready to make an alliance with the devil, ready to sleep in the same bed as the devil,” Cherizier informed his supporters final week.

It is believed that the 47-year-old was given the nickname Barbeque as a result of he units lots of his victims on fireplace. However, he says it’s a moniker his mom gave him when he was a toddler, based on New York Post.

During an interview with the New Yorker, Cherizier had likened himself to Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a member of the Haitian nationwide police however was expelled from the power in 2018. His expulsion got here after he was accused of getting ties to a number of heinous crimes, together with murders within the La Saline slums have been 71 individuals have been killed and 7 ladies have been raped. As many as 400 houses have been burned down. However, he has denied any involvement within the crimes.

Cherizier finally took over the G9 Family. It controls a number of slums and streets of Port-au-Prince.

“Unfortunately, Barbecue is now the most powerful man in Haiti,” Judes Jonathas, an unbiased marketing consultant based mostly in Port-au-Prince, informed The Guardian.

Meanwhile, the US has reportedly airlifted non-essential embassy employees from Haiti as gang violence worsened. Americans have now boosted safety at their mission in Port-au-Prince.

“Heightened gang violence in the neighbourhood near US embassy compounds and near the airport led to the State Department’s decision to arrange for the departure of additional embassy personnel,” the embassy posted on social media.