Jimmy Chérizier (; born 30 March 1977), nicknamed Barbecue (), is a Haitian gang leader, former police officer, and
warlord
Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local ...
who is the head of the
Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies
The Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies ( French: ''Forces Révolutionnaires de la Famille G9 et Alliés''; Haitian Creole: ''Fòs Revolisyonè G9 an Fanmi e Alye'') is a federation of 12 gangs led by former Haitian police officer ...
(), abbreviated as "G9" or "FRG9", a federation of over a dozen Haitian gangs based in
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...
.
Known for often making public appearances in military camouflage and a beret, he calls himself the leader of an "armed revolution".
Considered the most powerful warlord in
Haiti
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
, he is currently believed to be one of the country's most powerful political figures.
In early March 2024, the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies staged the
largest jailbreak in Haitian history and escalated attacks across the country, including an attempted siege of the
Toussaint Louverture International Airport
Toussaint Louverture International Airport (, ) is an international airport in Tabarre, a commune of Port-au-Prince in Haiti. The airport is currently the busiest in Haiti and is an operating hub for Sunrise Airways. It is informally called "th ...
. Chérizier claimed responsibility for the attacks and stated that the goal was to capture key government institutions, overthrow the unelected acting
prime minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Ariel Henry
Ariel Henry (; born 6 November 1949) is a Haitian neurosurgeon and politician who served as the acting Prime Minister of Haiti, prime minister of Haiti from Assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021 until his r ...
and become more powerful in Haiti, warning that "if Ariel Henry doesn't step down and the international community continues to support him, they will lead us directly to a civil war which will end in genocide." Henry announced his intention to resign on 11 March 2024, and did so on 24 March of that year.
Early life and career as police officer
Jimmy Chérizier was born in
Delmas,
Ouest Ouest (French for west) may refer to:
*Ouest (department), Haiti
*Ouest Department (Ivory Coast), defunct administrative subdivision of Ivory Coast
* Ouest Province, Cameroon
* Ouest Province, Rwanda
*Ouest-France, a French newspaper
*West France ( ...
, which is located in the
Port-au-Prince Arrondissement
Port-au-Prince () is an arrondissement in the Ouest department of Haiti. It had 2,109,516 inhabitants at the 2003 Census which was estimated to have risen to 2,759,991 in 2015 in an area of 735.78 sq km (284.09 sq mi). Postal codes in the Port- ...
, next to the slums of La Saline,
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...
. He was one of eight children. His father died when he was five years old.
Chérizier's mother worked as a fried chicken vendor during his childhood, which he claims to be origin of his nickname "Barbecue"; others, however, claim it originated from allegations of him setting people on fire during massacres, which he denies.
Chérizier was a police officer for the
Haitian National Police
The Haitian National Police (PNH; ) is the law enforcement and ''de facto'' police force of Haiti. It was created in 1995 to bring public security under civilian control as mandated in Haiti's constitution. As of 2023, the force has 9,000 acti ...
prior to becoming a gang leader.
[ Chérizier belonged to the (UDMO, "Unit for the Maintenance of Order"), a special unit within the Haitian National Police.] Chérizier became a gang leader in Base Delmas 6, Delmas, Ouest, perpetrating multiple large-scale massacres.
While he was a police officer, Chérizier is alleged to have perpetrated the 2018 La Saline massacre, in which at least 71 people were killed and over 400 homes burned down. He is accused of being involved in the 2017 Grande Ravine massacre that killed at least nine people, and the 2019 Bel Air massacre. In December 2018, Chérizier was fired by the Haitian National Police. Chérizier has denied all allegations, and claims he was in Delmas 6 at the time of the purported massacre.
Leader of the G9 Family and Allies
Chérizier is the leader of the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies (G9, ), a self-described federation of rebel groups. The organization was originally composed of nine groups, but has since grown to include over a dozen. The formation of the G9 was announced by Chérizier in a YouTube video on 10 June 2020, soon after the May 2020 Port-au-Prince massacre.[
The G9 is one of about 95 rebellious factions that battle for supremacy in ]Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...
. Its stronghold is believed to be the commune of Delmas, Ouest
Delmas (; ) is a Communes of Haiti, commune in the Port-au-Prince Arrondissement, in the Ouest (department), Ouest Departments of Haiti, department of Haiti. Delmas itself is an urban continuation of the capital city. Delmas is also the location o ...
. As of July 2021, it controlled Martissant, Village de Dieu, Grande Ravine, Bel Air, Cité Soleil
Cité Soleil (; ; English: ) is an extremely impoverished and densely populated commune located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area in Haiti. Cité Soleil originally developed as a shanty town and grew to an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 resi ...
, Fort Dimanche, and many other areas in Port-au-Prince. These areas give the G9 a hold over the center of Port-au-Prince, as well as northern and southern access points to its metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
, which allow the G9 to isolate Port-au-Prince from the rest of Haiti at its will.
On 12 May 2021, Chérizier was reportedly wounded during a gunfight with a rival group. A Doctors Without Borders
Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to:
Titles and occupations
* Physician, a medical practitioner
* Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree
** Doctorate
** List of doctoral degrees awarded ...
facility in Martissant, Port-au-Prince, denied rumors that he had received medical treatment at the facility.
Alleged massacres
The G9 has allegedly been responsible for numerous massacres of civilians in Haiti. These include a May 2020 massacre across various neighborhoods across Port-au-Prince that killed 6 to 34 people, an August–September 2020 massacre that left 22 dead, and an April 2021 massacre after an attempted takeover of Bel Air in Port-au-Prince.
The National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH), a United States National Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization in the United States founded in 1983 with the stated aim of advancing democracy worldwide and counter communism, communist influence abroad, by prom ...
funded, self-described human rights group
A human rights group, or human rights organization, is a non-governmental organization which advocates for human rights through identification of their violation, collecting incident data, its analysis and publication, promotion of public awareness ...
based in Haiti, reported on the 2020–21 massacre in Bel Air allegedly committed by G9. Eighty-one people were killed in total. Thirty-six people were killed from August to December 2020 and 45 people from March to May 2021. 18 people were left missing. A massacre in Cité Soleil from January to May 2021, which the RNDDH alleges was done by the G9 but the G9 denies, killed 44 people and left seven missing. Human rights groups and victims have described the G9's tactics to include random killing of civilians, systematic rape, looting and torching villages, kidnapping, dismemberment and more.
Relationship with President Jovenel Moïse
In investigating the 2020–21 Bel Air massacre and the 2021 Cité Soleil massacre, RNDDH reported that Haitian National Police officers did not intervene in the massacres after failing to receive orders from superiors and did not file any police reports on witness testimony, and that judicial authorities claimed to have received no complaints from any massacre victims. The RNDDH received reports that police equipment was used to conduct the massacres. It is alleged by some Haitians that President Jovenel Moïse was responsible for the massacres, using Chérizier's gang to repress government dissidents.[
In the weeks leading up to the ]assassination of Jovenel Moïse
Jovenel Moïse, the 43rd president of Haiti, was assassinated on 7 July 2021 at 1:00 am EDT (UTC−04:00) at his residence in Port-au-Prince. A group of 28 foreign mercenaries, mostly from Colombia, are alleged to be responsible for the ki ...
, the United Nations described gang violence as peaking at "unprecedented levels," and gang violence had caused a mass exodus of several thousands of people from Port-au-Prince. On 23 June 2021, Chérizier declared that the G9 gang collective would lead an armed revolution against Haiti's business and political elites. He described the G9 as filling the void left by government weakness and a force "to deliver Haiti from the opposition, the government, and the Haitian bourgeoisie."
He gave this statement to local media outlets surrounded by gang members wielding machetes and guns, and the statement was posted on YouTube. Chérizier publicly demanded Moïse's resignation from office a week before the assassination, calling for a "national dialogue" to redefine Haiti. In the aftermath of the assassination, Chérizier publicly mourned Moïse, including leading a crowd of more than 1,000 demonstrators calling for justice against the perpetrators.
2022 gang war with G-Pèp
Beginning in July 2022, the G9 engaged in a war with rival gang G-Pèp for the control of Cité Soleil
Cité Soleil (; ; English: ) is an extremely impoverished and densely populated commune located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area in Haiti. Cité Soleil originally developed as a shanty town and grew to an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 resi ...
, Port-au-Prince. The resulting 2022 Port-au-Prince gang war left at least 50 people dead.
September–November 2022 Varreux fuel terminal blockade
On 12 September 2022, during the fuel shortages part of the 2022 Haitian crisis, the G9 seized control of the Varreux fuel terminal, the main gas terminal in Port-au-Prince and one of Haiti's main fuel terminals. The G9 blockaded access to the terminal, cutting fuel supplies of about 10 million gallons of diesel and gasoline, and more than 800,000 gallons of kerosene to the rest of Haiti. The blockade caused gas stations and schools to close, hospitals to reduce services due to running on limited power, and banks and grocery stores to run on a limited schedule.
Initially, Chérizier demanded the resignation of President and Prime Minister Ariel Henry
Ariel Henry (; born 6 November 1949) is a Haitian neurosurgeon and politician who served as the acting Prime Minister of Haiti, prime minister of Haiti from Assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021 until his r ...
as conditions for the end of the blockade. After Henry requested foreign military aid to end the blockade, Chérizier changed his demands, to receive amnesty for arrest warrants issued for crimes allegedly committed by himself and other G9 members.
In an interview, Jean Rebel Dorcénat of the Haitian government's National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (CNDDR) said that the G9 also demanded government positions within Ariel Henry's cabinet. After negotiations with Henry, the G9 ended the blockade in November.
2024 unrest
In March 2024, Chérizier claimed responsibility for orchestrating attacks that led to the escape of over 4,700 inmates from Haiti's two largest prisons and killed around a dozen people. Francisco Uribe, one of the few detainees who chose not to leave prison, said in a video posted to social media that "They are massacring people indiscriminately inside the cells". The prison attacks were followed by the storming of Toussaint Louverture International Airport
Toussaint Louverture International Airport (, ) is an international airport in Tabarre, a commune of Port-au-Prince in Haiti. The airport is currently the busiest in Haiti and is an operating hub for Sunrise Airways. It is informally called "th ...
in Port-au-Prince, which was repelled by security. Chérizier stated that the goal was to capture Haiti's police chief and government ministers and prevent Prime Minister Ariel Henry's return to Haiti.
The Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
reported that the G9 Family and affiliated gangs controlled around 80% of the capital city and were launching coordinated attacks on "once unthinkable targets like the Central Bank". A state of emergency was declared on 3 March. Amid the growing unrest, Chérizier declared former Haitian dictator François Duvalier
François Duvalier (; 14 April 190721 April 1971), also known as Papa Doc, was a Haiti, Haitian politician and Haitian Vodou, Vodouisant who served as the president of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. He was elected president in the 195 ...
as an inspiration and warned that if the international community continued supporting the unelected Ariel Henry, a full-scale civil war would be inevitable. On 12 March, Henry yielded to the pressure and declared his resignation. By this point, Chérizier was described by certain journalists as a "warlord
Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local ...
" and one of the most powerful figures in Haiti; however, he declared in television interviews that he was currently not interested in becoming President of Haiti.
In an October 2024 interview with the journalist Michael Deibert, Chérizier asked for the Kenyan-led "multinational force to leave the country, because it is a group of invaders who just came under the orders of the United States, Canada, and France. They have not come to solve the country's problems."
Sanctions
On 10 December 2020, the United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments.
...
imposed sanctions on Chérizier and two senior Haitian government officials who allegedly provided police equipment, guns, and vehicles for massacres against the Haitian people.
On 21 October 2022, the United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
unanimously imposed its first sanctions on Haiti in five years (Resolution 2653), establishing a one-year travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo on Jimmy Chérizier and other persons or entities designated by a newly established Security Council sanctions committee.
See also
* 400 Mawozo
References
External links
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2653
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherizier, Jimmy
21st-century criminals
Haitian criminals
Haitian police officers
Living people
Anti-Americanism
Warlords
Crime bosses
1977 births
Year of birth uncertain
People from Port-au-Prince
People sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act
21st-century police officers