Who is Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, the powerful leader of Haiti’s criminal gangs who uses social networks to recruit followers

As chaos grows in Haiti and the government declares a full state of emergency, gang leaders who control part of the country are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

One of those leaders is Jimmy Cherizier, better known as “Barbecue” and the leader of one of the most powerful gangs behind violence in Haiti – the G-9 and the Family (G-9 en Fanmi).

The violence reached a new level on Saturday after armed men entered the country’s main jail and freed more than 3,700 prisoners. 12 people were killed and dozens were injured in that attack.

But the prison attack is another symptom of the delicate crisis that has afflicted the Caribbean country, especially since 2020.

The gangs’ fight for territorial control served as the basis for a series of violence that left behind thousands of deaths and a severe situation of social instability.

was one of the most serious moments Assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021Which created an institutional crisis in the country which is far from being resolved.

According to various reports, the intention of the gang with the recent attack on the prison, which controls about 80% of the area of ​​Port-au-Prince, is to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Henry, who took power after the death of Moise He ruled the country without calling the promised elections.

“We call on the Haitian National Police and the Army to assume their responsibility and arrest Ariel Henry. Once again, the population is not our enemy; the armed groups are not their enemy,” Charizier said in a message on social networks.

The criminal leader has in the past demanded an apology from Henry’s government and the release of all members of his group.

And the request doesn’t come from just any name: Charizier, a former police officer turned crime boss, has positioned himself as one of the key figures in the wave of gang violence that has rocked Haiti in recent years. Installed in.

According to the United States and the United Nations Security Council, it is responsible for serious human rights violations in Haiti., for that reason, Washington and the United Nations imposed sanctions on him.

Since Moïse’s death, Chérizier has taken a more leading role in promoting revolution against the country’s “corrupt” political elite.

And one of his favorite tools is social networks, not only to spread his message but also to attract followers to his armed organization.

The first question that arises is about her figure. The reason for his nickname.

He has said in the interview that this is because his mother used to sell chicken on the streets.

But, according to some witnesses of the Haitian violence, This is because he usually burns the houses and corpses of his victims.

Although Charizier started out as a police officer, today he is the leader of the so-called G-9 and the Family, a coalition of some of the most dangerous gangs in some of the most violent countries in the world.

Along with other powerful criminal organizations – including 400 Mawozo, the gang blamed for the kidnapping of a group of 17 American and Canadian missionaries in 2021 – the G9 and the Family have contributed to the lawlessness, and Cherizier is its instigator. There has been power.

Born in the Haitian capital some 47 years ago, neither the United States has imposed sanctions against him nor any authority in his country has managed to control his actions.

But Charizier’s criminal career began when he was a police officer and he was involved in the deaths of nine civilians in what was presented as an official operation against mafias in the Grand Ravine neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. In November 2017.

From that moment, his relations with gangs operating in the country also began. First with Delmas 6, where he became one of its main spokesmen.

According to local and international reports, Charizard managed to wrest power from the gang with the favor of the police and Moïse’s government.

And as a police officer he allegedly committed some atrocities for which he was later banned by international bodies.

The United Nations and the United States have indicated that He was one of the officers involved in the massacre of La Saline, a neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, in which dozens of people were killed in a coordinated attack by police and criminal groups against the local population. According to the US Treasury Department, “suppress political dissent.”

At least 71 people died.

Charizard has always denied all allegations.

“I’m not a gangster, I’ll never be one,” he told Al Jazeera in an interview in 2021. “That’s the system I’m fighting against. That system has a lot of money and controls the media. Now I’m made to look like he’s a gangster.”

During 2018 and 2019, Charizier was allegedly involved in brutal attacks that occurred elsewhere in Port-au-Prince.

“Criminal gangs are better equipped than the police and have the protection of the authorities,” Pierre Esperance, director of the Haitian NGO National Network for the Defense of Human Rights, told BBC Mundo in an interview in 2021. Clarifying the context of impunity in which Charizier operates.

With that power, Charizier began a bloody battle for territorial control of Port-au-Prince, where several massacres were carried out that spread terror not only in the capital but throughout the country.

According to the Network for the Protection of Human Rights in Haiti, the actions of Charizard and his armed group focused not only on the execution of people, but also on the burning of the residences of those who were the targets of attacks.

By June 2020, and taking advantage of the existing chaos, Charizier promoted the union of nine gangs into the group, which he eventually named G-9 and the Family. The announcement was made through his YouTube channel.

But according to international analysts, the assassination of the President in 2021 was a breaking point for his organization, as it led to him losing government protection.

According to the portal Insight CrimeBefore Moise’s assassination, 50% of the G-9’s funding came from government money, 30% came from kidnappings and the remaining 20% ​​was raised through extortion.

However, after the assassination, government funding dropped by 30%.

This reportedly prompted the leader to step up his fight against those who inherited political control of the country.

In October 2021, Prime Minister Henry, who was left in charge after Moïse’s assassination, was prevented from laying a wreath at a memorial after heavily armed members of the Charizard gang suddenly appeared and shot at him.

Dressed in an immaculate white suit and accompanied by his comrades, the gang leader, in an extraordinary display of strength, proceeded to lay a wreath of flowers at the memorial.

Chérizier is also accused of leading a sabotage action against the country’s fuel supply, and his men blocked several shipments of gasoline as pressure against Henry’s government.

Gasoline shortages have worsened the humanitarian situation in Haiti.

His G-9 gang is also waging a bloody war with G-Pep, a rival gang allegedly linked to parties that opposed assassinated President Moise.

Shooting and turf battles between the two groups are common and have spread from the poorest neighborhoods to central Port-au-Prince.

All this as part of expanding their network strategies to not only communicate their objectives but also to attract more followers.

What has been seen on the streets of Port-au-Prince has also been transferred to the field of social networks, where Cherizier has accumulated a strong influence.

“Without social media bandits would never be as powerful as they are in Haiti. We have always had criminals, But without those platforms they wouldn’t be as famous“Yvans Rumbold of the Policite think tank told the newspaper Washington Post,

This base is used by Cherizier to implement his plan. He not only used his account on the YouTube video platform to provide information about the formation of the G-9, but also requested the police to arrest the current Prime Minister of Haiti.

But this is not its only network. On X (formerly Twitter) he has also strongly called for taking over the country and removing the current ruling class.

The network has also taken to spreading photos of dead bodies after hanging via WhatsApp or asking for support for the issue through viral messages on Instagram or TikTok.

In fact, it was Cherizier who talked about the importance of social networks in an interview on his YouTube channel.

Asked by a follower, he said, “I thank the people who have created these technologies. Technology today gives us the opportunity to come in front of the public and present ourselves. I am not selling lies.”

He said, “I am who I say I am. I don’t do 99 percent of what they said, what I did… Technologies gave me a chance to defend myself.”

*With reporting by Vanessa Buschschlueter.

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