The United States classified the powerful alliance of Haiti Viv Ansanm gangs, whose members took control of almost the entire capital of Porto Príncipe and spread across neighboring areas, such as “transnational terrorist group” on Friday (2).
The US Treasury Department also applied the Gran Grif gang designation, which in October took responsibility for a shocking massacre of at least 115 people in Pont-Senonde agricultural city.
“They are a direct threat to US national security interests in our region,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement, adding that the supply of material support or gang resources could lead to “criminal accusations and inadmissibility or removal from the United States.”
The conflict between the gangs in Haiti had little international response, while neighboring countries, including the US, continued to deport migrants back to the Caribbean nation, despite the United Nations requests so that they did not do so due to humanitarian concerns.
More than 1 million people have been displaced by the conflict, and tens of thousands more in recent weeks, as violence has spread to the center of Haiti, forcing more health facilities to close their doors and pushing more people to severe food insecurity.
The freezing of US financing for security efforts and the dismantling of the US agency for international development, as well as other cuts, also complicates the situation.
The US had already designated as global terrorist organizations in February, the Aragua’s Tren Gang of Venezuela, as well as several other organized Latin American crime groups, including the Mexican Slanding Cartel.
Subsequently, the US government invoked a law rarely used in war times to designate Aragua’s Tren as “foreign enemies”, resulting in deportation without the process of many Venezuelans for controversial arrest in El Salvador, which is being paid to keep them in prison.
It was not clear what the impact would be, if there will be any, the designation of terrorist in relation to Haiti.
Armed groups in Haiti obtained significant gains in the first part of 2025, as the security mission supported by the UN, with few resources, was paralyzed and, along with the police, failed to contain the advances of the strongly armed and well -financed gangs.
The UN has required stricter measures to prevent weapons trafficking for Haitian gangs, especially from the US, which, according to the organization, is the main source of illegal firearms in Haiti through Florida ports.
Luckson Elan, who heads the Gran Grif, and Jimmy Cherizier, who acts as a spokesman for the Viv Ansanm Alliance, who is seeking political representation in Haiti, are subject to UN sanctions.
This content was originally published in the USA designate Haiti’s powerful gang alliance as a terrorist group on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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