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FILE - Jimmy Cherizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue who now runs a gang federation, walks hand in hand with children as he visits La Saline district of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 24, 2023. Internationally, Cherizier is known as Haiti's most powerful and feared gang leader, sanctioned by the United Nations for "serious human rights abuses," and the man behind a fuel blockade that brought the Caribbean nation to its knees in late 2022. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)

Why is Haiti so chaotic? Leaders used street gangs to gain power. Then the gangs got stronger

It’s easy to blame the latest spasm of violence in Haiti on longstanding poverty, the legacy of colonialism, and European and U.S. interference with the West’s first free Black republic

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
Published - Mar 10, 2024, 12:24 AM ET
Last Updated - Mar 10, 2024, 12:24 AM EST

Haiti’s prime minister was last seen in Puerto Rico, negotiating his return to a homeland gripped by violence and controlled by heavily armed gangsters. With his fate in the air and the situation in Haiti deteriorating by the day, the world has been left to wonder whether the country will fully descend into anarchy or whether some semblance of order will be restored.

What is going on in Haiti?

It’s easy to blame this latest spasm of violence in the West's first free Black republic on longstanding poverty, the legacy of colonialism, widespread deforestation, and European and U.S. interference.

However, a series of experts told The Associated Press that the most important immediate cause is more recent: Haitian rulers’ increasing dependence on street gangs.

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