For months, Haitian warlord Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier has been in the habit of announcing on social media the next targets of his brutal soldiers.
Seemingly intoxicated by his power in a broken society where the rule of law and government institutions are only notable for their absence, the gang leader issued death threats to everyone from the interim government to peacekeepers around the world.
But calling out his next move in a public video this week spelled danger for him and his Vivre Ensemble of fear-happy criminals, after he gave the police and detectives a chance to prepare for their fight.
In the video, Cherizier said that his men would target any hotel in Petionville, an affluent area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, to host members of the Transitional Council, a group accused of organizing the country’s first elections in a decade. Describing them as “oligarchs”, he said the only way they can save themselves is to resign.
A few hours later, in the wee hours of Tuesday, two trucks carrying dozens of his armed men entered Petionville, one of them parking across the highway into the suburb to block residents from fleeing.
Dawn marked the scene of the massacre. However it was the criminals who had paid a heavy price for their efforts to terrorize the suburbs.
Their mutilated bodies littered the streets. Some had their heads cut off. Some had their feet amputated. There was also a pile of smoldering corpses that had been set on fire by neighbors. At least 28 members of the Vivre Ensemble have been confirmed dead.
Cherizier said his men would head to hotels in the Port-au-Prince area hosting members of the electoral commission – Giles Clarke/Getty Images Europe.
Martine Villeneuve, director of the charity Action Against Hunger, said that shots and shouts could be heard around Petionville from 2am to 11am as they were alerted by the police who resisted the wave after the Vivre Ensemble attack.
“The self-defense groups in the area have been looking for everyone associated with these gangs. Tuesday was a long night. It was very frustrating,” he told The Telegraph.
Wise men protect their families from criminals who target them with rape, kidnapping, murder and violence, which is nothing new in Haiti, where the police are mistreated, corrupt and overpowered by bandits.
The vigilante group is known as Bwa Kale and has even encouraged musical chants and drum-like machine guns. Often, residents and local business owners band together to fight neighborhood self-defense groups, meaning Petionville’s independents may be better equipped than those in poorer neighborhoods.
“The defense groups are trying to protect the communities they live in. They put barriers on the road and control who goes in and out,” said Ms Villeneuve. “They know who lives there, and what organizations are trying to help, but they stop anyone who is suspicious.”
High-stakes strategy
However, fighting against groups is a high-level process. One of the deadliest killings since the bloodshed in Haiti in February came in September in the small town of Pont-Sondé after residents removed a “toll booth” that the Gran Grif group had set up on a nearby road. The group responded by shooting and looting until at least 70 people died.
Meanwhile, in the current power shutdown in Haiti, Mr. Kale has caused concern about the violation of their rights and the risk that they will join other criminal gangs.
Tuesday’s gun battle in Petionville comes as bloodshed in Haiti appears to be escalating amid political turmoil in the former French colony, founded in 1803 by African slaves.
Two weeks ago, the transition council replaced Garry Conille, a US diplomat, as president, causing bloodshed.
Since then, flights to Port-au-Prince’s main airport have been suspended after a Spirit Airlines flight from Florida was shot at several times, injuring a flight attendant.
Meanwhile, after 30 years of uninterrupted work, Doctors Without Borders this week temporarily suspended their work in Haiti, saying that things are not going well in matters of national security and also blaming Bwa Kale.
In a statement, the group accused the police and guards of “killing” two patients, who may have injured members of the group, while being transported in one of their ambulances, the latest in a series of threats and attacks on its operations.
The gang violence comes amid a growing humanitarian “crisis” in Haiti – Ralph Tedy Erol / Reuters
The removal of this group increases the humanitarian situation that Ms Villeneuve describes as “disastrous”. The violence has brought the country’s economy to a standstill, leaving crops unharvested and food unable to enter Port-au-Prince, the port closed and the city’s streets controlled by criminals.
Half of Haiti’s nearly 12 million inhabitants now eat only one meal a day. Another 1.2 million are “on the brink of starvation”, according to Ms Villeneuve, with only one meal every two or three days.
But Cherizier, a former top cop with political ambitions and a penchant for revolutionary propaganda, seems fearless, treating ordinary Haitians and members of his gang as expendable.
Since the infamous street fight in Petionville, he has been seen handing out school bags to children in Port-au-Prince as he tries to cement his image as Robin Hood protecting the very communities he threatens.
Expand your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for three months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.