Armed gangs leave thousands without food in central Haiti

Port-au-Prince.- "Sometimes, when I can't find the food that is distributed, I'm left with nothing," laments Fleuranta Cilné during a food distribution in Petite Rivière de l'Artibonite, a town in central Haiti known for its rice fields and other food products, but where the terror of armed gangs has left thousands of people without food. Amid the noise and jostling, and even the shouts of the children, the tension is at its peak at this stall where sticky rice with meat sauce is distributed. "It's the situation in the country that leads me to come here to look for food, but also the lack of economic means," Cilné tells EFE, who previously lived in the municipality of Verretes, from where she was expelled by the armed gangs that control the region. Several thousand farmers, peasants, and inhabitants of the Artibonite department are in a situation of food insecurity due to the invasion of their municipalities by criminal armed gangs in recent months, which has forced them to take refuge in camps where they live in inhumane conditions. It is an area plagued by violence where the scars are visible: remains of destroyed houses, others burned down. At the food distribution points, people crowd to access the space. They are young people, children, and adults, equipped with plates and containers.

At least 5.7 million Haitians are facing problems accessing food, according to the National Food Security Coordination (CNSA), which speaks of a "historic record". A situation that continues to deteriorate due to unemployment, inflation and the control of the main roads by criminal gangs.

Several thousand people have been displaced in the Artibonite region, located about one hundred kilometers north of Port-au-Prince. In these places, people live in inhumane conditions, far from basic services such as water, sanitation, and electricity.

"I have lost everything, the gangs have taken everything," confesses this woman who lives in a displaced persons camp. "My husband went to work. He has died," added Cilné.

"You see the conditions I sleep in. I am sick and cannot go to the hospital," says this displaced woman, mother of two children. Cilné claims to suffer from a stomach ulcer. "I depend on a hot meal that is distributed every day," she says, adding that she can no longer afford the schooling of her two teenage children due to the situation.

 Food poverty aggravated by insecurity

Despite the presence of the Security Support Mission (SSM) along with the Haitian National Police, which operates backed by more than twenty self-defense groups, gangs continue to gain more and more territory in Artibonite. Known for its rice fields and other food products, in this region the fields and agriculture are abandoned, while people flee to other urban centers due to insecurity.

This form of violence arose in the area after the 2015 legislative elections, during which, in order to win the votes, the candidates armed groups of young people from the sector. Once the elections were held, these armed groups were abandoned, thus, they became gangs.

In this context, starting in 2017, insecurity reached new heights and to deal with this armed violence, more than twenty self-defense groups emerged in the region. Currently, almost all municipalities, and even all localities, have one.

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Two personalities from this area, former deputy Prophane Victor and former senator Youri Latortue, have been sanctioned by the international community for financing criminal activities and for their alleged links to armed groups in Artibonite. At least twenty armed groups, including gangs and self-defense groups, operate in this region of the country, according to a report published in November 2023 on the security situation in Lower Artibonite by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH). Gran Grif and Kokorat San Ras, which emerged between 2015 and 2017, are the two main armed gangs that terrorize the civilian population in Artibonite. According to the residents, members of these criminal groups rape girls and women, steal, kidnap, and commit repeated massacres.