AP explores tense intersection of commerce, gangs, politics in Haiti
Flanked by members of the G9 gang coalition, leader Jimmy Cherizier, aka Barbecue, right, talks to reporters near the perimeter wall that encloses Terminal Varreux, the port owned by the Mevs family, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 6, 2021. Barbecue, a former policeman, fancies himself a man of the people and an enemy of the elite. (AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd)
By Rodrigo Abd and Alberto Arce
Rodrigo Abd,global enterprise photographer based in Buenos Aires,and Alberto Arce,freelance reporter,obtained rare access to members of Haiti’s wealthy elite — and to the violent gangs that threaten them — for a deep look at doing business in this failed state. Using contacts and determination and building trust,they explored how entrepreneurs continue to operate in an environment where more than 100 heavily armed gangs control access to the port,the fuel and the food supply chains. Kidnappings and killings are not uncommon in the impoverished capital, leaderless after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Businesswoman Youri Mevs talks on her cellphone as she sits to have lunch with her daughters at their home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 29, 2021. She wants her daughters to join those moving abroad while the future of the country is settled. If life does not improve, she may have to sell what she owns and join them. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Family and domestic workers gather round Huguette Mevs, singing traditional songs to celebrate her 92nd birthday, at her residence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 3, 2021. Huguette Mevs is a member of one of the wealthiest families in Haiti; her daughter Youri owns Shodecosa, Haiti’s largest industrial park which warehouses most of the 93% of the nation’s food that is imported. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A worker stands on a truckload of corn flakes donated by Haiti’s AAA political party to residents in the gang-controlled Bel Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Oct. 5, 2021. “It is a donation from the political party to a neighborhood. … It is populism, but people are hungry. There is nothing wrong in giving them food,” rationalizes Youri Mevs, campaign manager for the AAA presidential candidate. Mevs is being extorted for $500,000 by the G9 gang coalition. She chose not to pay the extortion. Instead she gave the order to one of her managers: “Get them corn flakes, milk, pasta, tomato and soap.” – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
G9 coalition gang members ride a motorcycle through the Wharf Jeremy street market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 6, 2021. While some gangs have turned to kidnapping, recently abducting 17 missionaries, Jimmy Cherizier, aka Barbecue, a former policeman who leads the G9 gang coalition, has taken control of the port district, gaining a stranglehold on the country’s economy. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A boy crouches to avoid the camera as he runs past the body of a man killed during clashes between police and gang members in the Martissant neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 2, 2021. The gangs tightening grip on Haitian society is threatening the country’s social fabric and its fragile, anemic economy. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A map created by a businessman who asked not to be identified, indicates the different territories controlled by gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 7, 2021. Jimmy Cherizier, aka Barbecue, a former policeman who leads the G9 gang coalition, controls the coastal strip of Port-au-Prince. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Swathes of green foliage separate the densely populated Jalousie neighborhood, left, from the wealthy suburb Petion-Ville in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 4, 2021. Some of Haiti’s wealthy elite can trace roots to ancestors who came to the country generations ago and built fortunes. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
People push and shove as they try to get their tanks filled at a gas station in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 22, 2021. In addition to kidnappings, gangs are blamed for blocking gas distribution terminals and hijacking supply trucks, which officials say has led to a shortage of fuel. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A worker walks through an empty warehouse owned by Marche Titony, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 21, 2021. The warehouse was looted by gangs on June 16th. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A worker takes a break while assembling art pieces at the Caribbean Craft company owned by businesswoman Magalie Dresse, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 14, 2021. Dresse’s business sends about 50 shipping containers of merchandise to the United States each year. But before they arrive at the port, they must pass through gang-controlled areas. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Businesswoman Magalie Dresse does a side plank during her morning yoga routine in the garden of her home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 14, 2021. Dresse lives in the heart of the capital, where she does yoga in the morning. “I need the strength to go out there and handle what I’m going to find, which is not going to be positive.” says Dresse. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Businesswoman Magalie Dresse steps away to view messages on her phone during a garden cocktail party at her home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 15, 2021. During the party for friends and associates, they swapped stories about the impossibility of conducting business in a nation virtually controlled by gangs. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A G9 gang coalition member unpacks weapons that include American-made AK rifles with ammunition, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 6, 2021. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Jimmy Cherizier, aka Barbecue, a former policeman who leads the G9 gang coalition, visits with friends as they play a game of dominoes in the Cite Soleil shantytown of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 3, 2021. Barbecue has been accused — by local and national courts and international organizations including the United Nations — of participation in three massacres between 2018 and 2020. There is a warrant for his arrest, although he’s “hiding” in plain sight, protected by gunmen. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Jimmy Cherizier, aka Barbecue, a former policeman who leads the G9 gang coalition, holds a weapon as he stands next to the coffin of Tonino Manino, one of his lieutenants, during a funeral service in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 30, 2021. Despite all appearances, he says he is not positioning himself for a political career. He claims not to have any political affiliation or party and says he does not see himself “as a candidate in a system that I see as corrupt.” – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A man jumps over loose bricks forming part of a barricade, a block from the front lines that divide gang-controlled territories in the Bel Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 5, 2021. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A private security guard stands watch as an employee opens up shop in the Petion-Ville neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 27, 2021. For decades, the country was ruled by political strongmen supported by armed gangs; since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, the state has virtually collapsed. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
During their reporting, the pair was threatened verbally by people who didn’t want to be photographed and with weapons by gangsters who didn’t want them there at all. Abd encountered constant hostility toward a white man with a camera. But after many attempts,Abd and Arce finally gained access to Barbecue,the leader of a coalition of gangs who presents himself as a populist fighting the injustices of an economy concentrated in the hands of a few, but who operates as an armed thug instilling fear in the people.
The piece was among AP’s top stories in reader engagement and earned kudos from Pulitzer Center funders: “They avoided all the easy frameworks … and did a fantastic job depicting the abject inequity that is at the root of Haiti’s social/economic collapse,” wrote Executive Editor Marina Walker. Author and Haiti expert Amy Wilentz wrote that Abd and Arce were “savvy and resistant” and said, “I enjoyed it and admired their enterprise.”
