Prince Port.- Former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, better known as “Barbecue”, who is understood by many to be the most powerful gang leader in Haiti, said on Wednesday that he would face any international armed force that enters the Caribbean country, in case of committing some abuse.
Chérizier also called on Haitians to mobilize against the government. “We are asking the population to rebel,” he commented at a press conference.
The gang leader said he would welcome the foreign force if it takes the prime minister into custody, along with others he says are corrupt police officers and politicians who allegedly sell weapons and ammunition in poor Haitian neighborhoods.
“If the foreign force comes to help and provide security for life to start again, we will applaud that too,” he said. But he specified that the Haitian people will rise up in arms if any international force repeats the UN’s previous actions to maintain peace in the Caribbean nation, in which there were cases of rape and cholera was entered into water sources in a manner unnoticed.
“We will fight them until our last breath,” he said. “It will be a struggle of the Haitian people to save the dignity of our country.”
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has led Haiti since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, has called in foreign armed forces since October to help confront the powerful gangs, which are understands that they control 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince.
At the end of July, the country of Kenya offered to lead a multinational force, and a few weeks ago the United States announced that it would deliver a resolution before the United Nations Security Council to consent to a multinational mission that is not linked to the UN.
