Haitian security forces bombed three homes owned by top gang leader Jimmy “Barbeque” Chélisier on Wednesday after footage showed unconfirmed large explosions in the capital Port-au-Prince, local newspaper Gazette Haiti reported Wednesday.
Footage shared online earlier showed a massive explosion destroying at least one building, affecting nearby homes and sending large clouds of smoke into the air. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was killed, injured or arrested in the operation.
Gazette Haiti reported that police entered the scene after the explosion and recovered equipment.
Hours earlier, the Haitian National Police announced that it was carrying out an operation targeting the home of gang leader Chélisier in Port-au-Prince’s Delmas 6 district, a long-standing stronghold of armed groups operating under him.
Cherisier, 48, a former police officer, has become the leader and spokesperson of Vib Ansam, a coalition of armed groups that brings together most of the capital’s criminal organizations, which have been in violent clashes with police.
Police said the operation brought together the military, a United Nations-backed anti-gang unit, the Prime Minister’s Task Force, which has been carrying out explosive drone operations for about a year, and a private military company.
Vectus Global, run by Blackwater founder Eric Prince, has been supporting the Haitian government’s drone operations since early last year.
Mr. Chéridier is the first of a handful of Haitian gang leaders to be sanctioned by the United Nations, and the United States is offering a $5 million reward for his capture or information leading to his capture.
The gang leader, who has been accused of a wide range of crimes, including ordering several massacres around the capital, presents himself as an anti-elite revolutionary and is trying to transform Vibh Ansanmu into a political party.
The operation comes several weeks ahead of the current transitional government’s February 7 deadline to end its mandate. Haiti’s political succession plan for next month has not yet been announced.
