How the gang leader ‘Barbecue’ became one of Haiti’s most powerful men

He has been accused of crippling Haiti’s economy through extortion and blocking port terminals. His alleged leadership of and participation in slum massacres and violence have left him feared at home and sanctioned internationally. His gang’s most frequent victims are the poor residents and small business owners of the slums he controls.

But Henry, criticized for failing to contain the violence or lead the country to new elections, finally agreed Monday that he would step down once a transitional presidential council had chosen an interim leader to replace him. Chérizier was one of several forces — pressure from the United States and the Caribbean Community were others — that helped push him out of office.

Chérizier, having been sanctioned by the United Nations, is ineligible to serve on the council. But with his power and influence, he is likely to continue influencing Haiti’s trajectory.

Here’s what to know about him.

What is Jimmy Chérizier’s role in Haiti’s political chaos?

Often seen wearing a bulletproof vest and flanked by men and boys carrying assault rifles, Chérizier portrays himself as a savior of the streets in the beleaguered Caribbean nation of 11 million.

In 2020 he became a major player by uniting several of the warring gangs of Port-au-Prince into a powerful new confederation named the G9 Family and Allies to launch what he called a “revolution.” He announced its formation on YouTube dressed in a powder-blue three-piece suit.

During much of the time since then, he has pressured on Henry to stand down. Last week, while the prime minister was in Nairobi promoting a U.N.-approved, Kenya-led security force for Haiti, Chérizier gave him an ultimatum: Resign or “the country is headed straight to a genocide.”

“If the international community continues to support him, they are taking us to a civil war,” he warned. “We will fight until Ariel Henry’s resignation.”

On Monday, before Henry announced his intention to resign, Chérizier said a new government should be chosen by his coalition and “the Haitian people.” He also lambasted the planned security force.

“It will plunge Haiti into chaos,” Chérizier said. “We are having a bloody revolution in the country.”

Carlos Solar, senior research fellow of Latin American security at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute, said Chérizier commands a formidable force. “We’ve seen a massive influx of weapons,” he said, “which means that any multinational force will need to be armed to the teeth, as Jimmy and the other gangs are.”

Solar believes Chérizier is aware of the sway he holds over negotiations for Haiti’s future and probably “wants to become a politician at some point.”

“He says he’s not a gangster. He’s claiming to represent the people and to trying to legitimize himself,” Solar said. “If a new government comes, what are they going to do with Jimmy and these other gang lords? They’re not going to lay down weapons easily.”

If Haiti is to move forward, Solar said, an armistice or “informal pact” with the gangs might be required. But such collusion between the government and alleged criminals is deeply unpopular among Haitians.

Chérizier, thought to be in his late 40s, was born in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, the youngest of eight children, the Associated Press has reported. Their father died when he was 5.

He became a member of Haiti’s national police, working with a riot squad, before being expelled in 2018 — a decision he has called unfair.

Articulate and charismatic, he has tried to cast himself in Delmas as a protector, often seen handing out food, hosting journalists and patrolling the streets. “This is an armed revolution,” he told The Washington Post in 2020. “We will put guns in the hands of every child if we have to.” But he might be more feared than loved.

Chérizier has been accused of leading massacres in which dozens of men, women and children have been killed — most notably in 2018 in the slums of La Saline, where at least 71 people were killed, at least seven women raped and more than 400 houses destroyed, according to the United Nations. Chérizier denies all allegations.

He was sanctioned by the United States in 2020 for human rights abuses and by the United Nations in 2022. The U.N. Security Council said his actions, which have allegedly included extorting small businesses, kidnapping for ransom and blockading a fuel terminal for months at a time, “have directly contributed to the economic paralysis and humanitarian crisis in Haiti.”

“Barbecue is quite a character,” Solar said. “He’s a bit of a Robin Hood — he represents himself as this.”

Chérizier styles himself a champion of social justice. “Today, I feel much more useful than when I was a member of the Haitian police,” he told the New Yorker last year. “There are a lot of people who depend on me.”

He likened himself to Malcolm X and the Haitian revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines. His cellphone cover, the New Yorker reported, “was a Pop Art image depicting him as Che Guevara,” the Argentine Marxist revolutionary, “complete with beret.”

Could Chérizier himself lead Haiti?

Chérizier is unlikely to lead Haiti, analysts say. It’s unclear that enough Haitians support him. He’s not the country’s most powerful gang leader, some say — just the most visible.

Other figures, such as Guy Philippe, are better known. Philippe, a former rebel commander — he led the 2004 uprising that ousted then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide — returned to Haiti last year after being freed from a U.S. prison. He served time after pleading guilty to money laundering related to drug trafficking. Philippe, too, called for Henry’s removal.

But Chérizier has “clearly filled a void,” said Christopher Sabatini, senior Latin America fellow at London’s Chatham House. “In these moments of political vacuum and crisis, new leaders emerge.”

Chérizier’s influence over the streets, Sabatini said, his cache of weapons and his control of much of the capital could give him “effective veto power” over the proposed transitional presidential council and elections.

“He’s grabbed the lime light, he has more of a media presence than most, he plays to the audience,” Sabatini said. He’s “a factor of the power dynamic right now.”

What’s happening in Haiti?

Haiti, beset by a long history of political corruption, gang violence and economic exploitation, is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

“Everyday Haitians are caught in the middle of a crossfire between government agencies and the gangs,” Solar said. “There’s very little hope for them.”

“Haitians’ distrust, even hatred, of the political class runs deep,” Sabatini said, and Chérizier has been able to use that. “In his violence and threats, he captures popular anger in ways that current politicians don’t and can’t.”

Chérizier’s conversion of a “fragmented, chaotic network of criminal organizations that were combative into one political agenda,” was a key achievement, he said. It transformed him into a “criminal, political entrepreneur.”

In Henry’s promise to resign, Solar said, Chérizier “got what he wanted.” But how big a role he’ll play going forward is unclear.

“He’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

Anthony Faiola, Ingrid Arnesen, Samantha Schmidt and Amanda Coletta contributed to this report.