By Rebecca Bruny, Ayibopost, Nov. 24, 2024
In Jerusalem, a slum in Croix-des-Bouquets, armed gangs have set up their own prison to "maintain order," residents tell AyiboPost.
Trials are held under the supervision of the main leader, a bandit named Marc "Sansans" Ben.
Sentences are handed down based on the crime committed, and gang members act as prison guards.
The illegal prison is actually a two-story house located in Jerusalem 9, on the border of Onaville, another slum controlled by the gang leader named Jeff.
“The bandits took over the property and then developed it by adding bars to the windows and metal doors deemed more appropriate,” a source who himself took part in the development work told AyiboPost.
This extrajudicial prison illustrates the non-existence of the State in several localities of the country. A non-existence that benefits the bandits, who organize almost all aspects of social life and go so far as to distribute justice or electric current.
For sociologist Laënnec Hurbon, we are witnessing a "real reversal of social relations" on the part of gangs.
"The bandit has become, according to Hurbon, the master who makes the majority of the population his slaves. All those who live in the country each become a "potential prisoner".
The bandit acts in this way "because he himself has become the State," continues the specialist in the relations between religion, cultures and politics in Haiti and the Caribbean.
In March 2024, the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, of which the Jerusalem group is a member, attacked the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, the country's largest prison center, allowing thousands to escape.
On the night of May 17-18, 2024, the men of Wilson Joseph, alias “Lanmò san jou”, demolished the civil prison of Croix-des-Bouquets.
Laënnec Hurbon believes the Viv Ansanm know they are force to be reckoned with.
He argues that, in the territory they control "they operate by having built a whole social hierarchy with generals, supervising soldiers, commissioners..." A structure allowing them to force the population to comply.
In Jerusalem, for example, armed bandits lock members of the population in their prison for several days or weeks.
But well before, a judgment takes place to determine if the person is really guilty of what he is accused of, according to sources contacted by AyiboPost.
In fact, when someone goes to Sansans to file a complaint, a "soldier" is sent to retrieve the accused person, often brutally.
During arrests, the leader's underlings use barbed wire to tie up the culprits, the source said. "They hate hougans, whom they identify as dangerous 'malfektè' and thieves," the source said.
A Jerusalem resident confirms that the commander treats his own men more harshly. "Their sentences are always harsher," she says. "Not only do they spend more time in prison, but they are not given food or water when they are. And if another soldier dares to help the one who is locked up, he will join him in the cell and his sentence will be worse."
The bandits in this locality avoid using their rifles in the area.
"The times when you hear them shooting a lot," the resident said, "is when they are partying or when they receive new weapons that they want to test."
They also order civilians not to go out when they are going to confront other gangs or law enforcement.
These kinds of tactics, implemented to gain sympathy from the hostage communities, are used in various other gang hotbeds.
Last October, in the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets, the gang leader Lanmò san jou distributed envelopes of money to children.
Other members of the Viv Ansanm coalition are also distributing money and food to residents of their territories.
Services once provided by the state are falling into the hands of criminals.
The administrative director of Electricité d'Haïti (EDH), Jose Joachin Davilmar, said that the bandits go so far as to divert the power in several areas.
Those who live in these localities are forced to enter into relationships with the criminals.
In the case of Jerusalem, residents say that if they are caught speaking ill of the bandits or sharing any information about the area, they will be killed.
"They don't search our phones systematically," says one source. "But if one of them asks to see our phone, we can't refuse. Therefore, we are forced to always remain on our guard."
For fear of being overheard and identified as moles, members of the population limit their topics of conversation. Many of them go so far as to refuse calls from people asking for news of the area.
“Everyone is suspicious of everyone,” one of the sources told AyiboPost.
Translated by CHIP editors
Posted Nov. 28, 2024