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A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 8 June 2019
Leader or killer? A day with 'Barbecue' in Haiti's capital

By DÁNICA COTO force. Cherizier contends
Associated Press he was asleep when the
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) attack began and never
— He's known as Barbecue, abandoned the force.
an ex-cop suspected in Marie-Yolene Gilles, execu-
the massacre of dozens of tive director of the human
men, women and children rights group Fondasyon Je
in the Haitian capital — Klere, accused politicians
and a hero in his neighbor- of condoning and encour-
hood, followed by crowds aging gang activity. La Sa-
of adoring residents who line has long been known
consider him their protec- as a rallying point for anti-
tor. government protests, and
Authorities say men like Bar- the massacre occurred just
becue, whose real name days before scheduled na-
is Jimmy Cherizier, are in- tionwide protests over cor-
creasingly taking charge of ruption allegations.
areas across Haiti as public "Haiti's security situation is
safety disintegrates and the very, very alarming," she
government loses its grip on said. "It seems that the
a country facing one of its country doesn't have a
most violent periods in re- leader."
cent history despite a 15- The spike in violence
year U.N. peacekeeping prompted the U.S. State
operation there. Department to pull out all
"Gangs are multiplying be- In this May 24, 2019, photo, Barbecue, whose real name is Jimmy Cherizier, sits at his house during non-emergency personnel
cause the government is an interview with AP, in Lower Delmas, a district of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. in mid-February and issue
weak," said Haiti's attorney Associated Press a "no travel" advisory that
general, Paul Eronce Vil- remains in effect as em-
lard, who estimates there investigations of the killings, leader, Joel Noel, calls him- La Saline now sleep on the battled President Jovenel
are more than 50 gangs Cherizier, remains not only self the community leader streets because they're too Moise faces massive pro-
now operating in the coun- free, but the most powerful of La Saline, where the scared to spend the night tests over alleged corrup-
try. "It's a real challenge for man in Lower Delmas. massacre began on Nov. at home. tion, lack of basic goods
police." A police badge tattooed 13 as men armed with guns "We need security, we and record inflation.
Armed gangs, sometimes on his right forearm and a 9 and machetes broke into need help for the people, Villard, the attorney gen-
with links to corrupt police mm pistol in his waistband, homes, killing and torturing we need justice," he said, eral, said the violence is
and believed financed the 42-year-old Cherizier dozens and raping several adding that he fears more worse now than in 2004,
by local politicians and sleeps during the day and women. Victims' bodies people will be killed. "The when former President
businessmen, battle each spends nights scanning the were then burned or cut people who can't fight are Jean-Bertrand Aristide was
other for control of Port-au- streets for enemies. He en- into pieces and thrown going to be the victims." toppled by a rebellion that
Prince's lucrative outdoor forces a nightly curfew and to pigs and dogs. Among Cherizier denied any con- led to the intervention by
markets, the source of a has a small army of look- the dead was a 4-year-old nection to the massacre the U.N. peacekeeping
steady flow of cash from outs who bang on drums girl shot in the head in her and said his enemies have force, whose operation will
so-called "protection" fees to alert residents that rival mother's arms, according linked him to the killings out end in October.
from vendors, as well as gangs are approaching. to authorities. of revenge. He said he got Serge Therriault, U.N. police
drug deals and arms sales. On a recent Saturday, An internal investigative re- the nickname Barbecue as commissioner in Haiti, said
Among them is Base Del- Cherizier ducked through port by the Haitian police a child because his mother the peacekeeping force
mas 6, which local human purple and yellow sheets Bureau of Criminal Affairs, was a street vendor who addressed gang problems
rights groups say is led by hung out to dry in narrow obtained by The Associ- sold fried chicken, not be- in the early stages of its mis-
Cherizier in Port-au-Prince's alleyways and sidestepped ated Press, has called for cause he is accused of set- sion, but he worries about
impoverished Lower Del- rusty wheelbarrows filled the arrest of Cherizier and ting people on fire. the resurgence and be-
mas neighborhood. Cheri- with sugarcane and wom- 68 others on charges in- "I would never massacre lieves it is linked to the eco-
zier denies that, describing en doing their wash in cluding murder and rape. people in the same social nomic downturn.
himself as a community buckets. The smell of mari- It is now being reviewed by class as me," declared "There are limited things the
leader who doles out cash juana and raw sewage a judge, but more than six Cherizier, who says he takes police can do," he said. "We
to residents when they're in filled the air. months after the carnage inspiration from late dicta- can try to stop the gang
need, clears garbage from Swigging from a bottle of none have been charged. tor Francois "Papa Doc" Du- activity, but until these peo-
the streets and protects the Barbancourt rum, he later Cherizier is implicated in valier, who ruled Haiti with ple have employment ... it's
neighborhood from rival pointed at a wide canal two killings in the report: a bloody brutality as "presi- very difficult."
gangs. that residents use as a toilet One by a woman who ac- dent for life" from 1957 to The Haitian police are also
He's also a suspect in the and a shuttered medical cused him and 13 others of 1971. dealing with gangs infiltrat-
country's worst massacre in clinic, then noted the lack fatally shooting her cousin "I was born next door to La ing the force: Last month,
years, accused by police of schools. and dragging his body into Saline. I live in the ghetto. they referred five cadets
and witnesses of helping to "What do you see?" he a swamp, and another by I know what ghetto life suspected of gang involve-
orchestrate the slaughter asked as he gestured at a a woman who accused is," added Cherizier, the ment to authorities as out-
of up to 59 men, women crowd of supporters gath- him of colluding with others youngest of eight children, rage grew over brazen
and children in the nearby ered around him. "It's mis- to kill her son. whose father died when he daylight killings, including
neighborhood of La Saline ery. None of these kids Noel, his lips stained purple was 5. a police detective slain in
last year. have a future. In 10 years from the wine he'd been Weeks after the massacre, a high-end neighborhood
But despite being named in from now, they will have drinking that morning, also police accused Cherizier of and a university professor
a police report and in two guns in their hands." accused Cherizier in the being away without leave fatally shot after leaving a
local human rights groups' Another suspected gang slayings and said people in and expelled him from the bank.q