Haiti: Fleeing is not enough in Port-au-Prince and other major cities

By Jude Pierre Louis
Haiti remains under the grip of armed gang federations. These include Viv Ansanm (“Living Together”), led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, a former police officer turned one of the country’s most notorious gang leaders. The group emerged out of the G9 federation, founded in 2020 to unite rival gangs. As one unit, these gangs now control a significant share of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and major national highways — including a significant share of Port-au-Prince’s metropolitan region and strategic national highways leading to the Great North and the Great South — inflicting acts of violence on civilians, including sexual assault, kidnapping, extortion, and arson.
With more than 1.5 million internally displaced persons and successive international missions failing to achieve on-the-ground results, the government remains profoundly overwhelmed.
On the night of August 17, 46-year-old Marie Rose (pseudonym) and two of her three children were walking home in Carrefour-Feuilles. Power supplies had been cut off, plunging this densely populated neighbourhood in the southern suburbs of Port-au-Prince into darkness.
Two armed men ambushed them, forcing Marie Rose into an alleyway and raping her in front of her children. Gangs invaded the neighbourhood the following day.
‘They showed me their weapons’
Recounting what happened that evening in Haitian Creole, Marie Rose said:
Li te vè 7 è nan aswè li te fe nwa paske pat gen kouran elektrik, mwen tap mache ak de pitit mwen yo, gen de gason ki rele m, avèk yon vwa awogan. Mwen pa deside vin kote yo paske yo parèt sispèk, epi yo deplase vin anfas mwen, yo leve mayo yo epi yo montre m zam yo. Yo egzije m rantre nan yon koridò (koulwa) epi yo mande m pou mwen kouche atè a. Mwen refize, yo frape m nan vizaj ak kalòt. Se lè sa a mwen obeyi epi yo vyole m.
It was around 7 p.m., and I was walking home with two of my children. There was no power, so it was extremely dark. Two men arrogantly called me over, but I stayed back. They looked suspicious. They then stood directly in front of me, lifting their shirts to show me their weapons. They demanded that I go into an alleyway and lie down on the ground. When I refused, they slapped my face. It was at this point that I followed their orders, and they raped me.
The children stood outside the alleyway, crying as their mother came out. In the days that followed, she received medical attention and follow-up care, but the experience never left her:
Mwen te vle touye tèt mwen, paske chak fwa mwen rete, imaj sa yo monte nan lespri m. Mwen te vle fini ak mwen. Mwen pa fè sa se pou avni pitit mwen yo, mwen pa vle kite yo nan men lòt moun, paske yo pa gen papa.
Whenever these images came to mind, I wanted to kill myself. I wanted to end it all. And while I didn’t act on it, it was because of my children’s futures. As they don’t have a father, I don’t want to leave them in the hands of others.
The August 17 invasion
The August 17, 2023 invasion of Carrefour-Feuilles, headed by Renel Destina (aka “Ti Lapli” — “Little Rain”), leader of the Gran Ravine gang and member of the criminal G9 federation led by Chérizier, was well orchestrated. On August 18, in the aftermath of the attack, Radio France International (RFI) reported that thousands of residents had fled the blazing neighbourhood.
Gangs set houses on fire, looted businesses, and destroyed vehicles. Schools, hospitals, and residential buildings were systematically razed. According to quarterly reports from the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), dozens were left dead and injured in Carrefour-Feuilles alone.
In such an environment, sexual assaults are commonplace. Organisations like the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) independently document and cross-reference instances of the gang rape of women, girls, and sometimes men, which is routinely used as a weapon.
Seeking shelter in the ruins: A four-kilometre trek
Forced to flee with her neighbours, Marie Rose walked about four kilometres (about two-and-a-half miles) to reach the Port-au-Prince administrative centre. She and her children sought refuge inside the Rex Theatre, an abandoned cinema in Champ de Mars near the National Palace, an area severely damaged during the 2010 earthquake:
Lè nou te rive andan li te sal anpil chaje fatra, zèb pouse tout kote, men nou mete ansanm nou fè netwayaj, se la nou bati abri pou nou rete.
Once inside, it was very dirty, full of trash and debris, and covered with weeds. However, together, we cleaned up and built shelters to stay in.
The shelters are makeshift, made from scrap metal, carpets, and plastic sheeting. When the sun beats down, the air becomes unbreathable, and when it rains, mud and water flood the living spaces. Odours linger, and the heat is suffocating.
There is also no security within the camp, as the gang-controlled territory begins just a few hundred metres away:
Mwen pa soti san bezwen, si mwen soti se pou mwen regle yon bagay ak pou pitit mwen yo, paske anpil fwa gen afwontman fòs polis yo ak gang yo, sa rive konn gen katouch ki frape mi deyò kan.
I only go out when absolutely necessary. As there are often clashes between the gangs and the police, I only go out to run errands, or for my children. Stray bullets have already hit the camp’s exterior walls.
Surviving in the camp
Although international organisations sometimes provide direct aid, it remains infrequent; far more frequent are other forms of abuse. Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH) and other human rights organisations have widely reported that the camp’s internal management committee often extorts women and girls, demanding sexual favors in exchange for food and hygiene kits.
Mwen rekòmanse ak ti biznis mwen an ak sipò zanmi ke mwen gen lontan mwen byen ak yo, se yo ki ede m, epi kote mwen te konn achte an gwo avan sitiyasyon an te vin dejenere yo vann mwen ak kredi, se konsa mwen reprann ti komès la.
I restarted my small business with the support of my longtime friends. Also, because the wholesalers where I used to buy in bulk, before things spiraled, let me buy on credit, I could start over.
A country under gang control
Marie Rose’s ordeal isn’t unique. According to United Nations figures published in June 2026, it is an everyday reality for more than 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Haiti. Families have to survive in temporary overcrowded locations, public schools, abandoned administrative buildings and vacant land, all while being exposed to heat, floods, disease, and violence.
In the Artibonite department, gangs continue to hound farmers, burning down houses and destroying crops. In Port-au-Prince, kidnappings, gang rapes, extortion, and arson attacks are also ongoing. Rival gangs regularly clash over territory control, making citizens the hostages of their wars.
Faced with the current situation, the government remains largely unresponsive. Although Haitian National Police (HNP) and the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd'H) have continued their efforts to regain control of downtown Port-au-Prince, they have made little progress. Community self-defence groups and vigilante brigades have launched a grassroots resistance movement, sometimes in collaboration with law enforcement, but they lack the means required to reverse the balance of power.
Internationally, a new mission, the Gang Suppression Force (GSF), has been deployed to replace the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission. However, Haitians remain highly sceptical given that the previous mission failed to achieve tangible results.