An inside look at how gang warfare in Haiti has devastated daily life

Read the Full Transcript

• Geoff Bennett:

  We're going to take a closer look now at gang warfare in Haiti, which has rocked the struggling nation for years, displacing over 700,000 Haitians.

  The United Nations Security Council met today to discuss the violence and whether to upgrade a police mission deployed earlier this year to a peacekeeping operation as the chaos and street warfare has reached a new and terrible level. Despite that multinational security mission that deployed in June to try and restore some order, large parts of the capital remain under gang control and violence is endemic.

  Special correspondent Marcia Biggs and videographer Eric O'Connor recently traveled to Haiti and have this look at the depth of the crisis.

• Marcia Biggs:

  Downtown Port-au-Prince deserted after years of gang warfare; 85 percent of the city is held by various armed groups constantly battling for control.

  They terrorize contested neighborhoods with a scorched-earth practice of kidnapping, rape, and murder. No one in the city remains untouched.

• Woman (through interpreter):

  I had no choice but to join them, in order to stay alive, to save the life of my child, and also to avenge my mother and my father.

• Marcia Biggs:

  This 41-year-old single widowed mother asked us to protect her identity. She says, in 2020, she was living on a front line between two gang territories when bandits attacked her home and murdered her mother, father, and husband in front of her. She fled with her teenage son, and members of the Grand Ravine gang gave her a choice.

• Woman (through interpreter):

  They asked those who want to stand and fight, to fight. I chose to join with my child.

• Marcia Biggs:

  How do you survive?

• Woman (through interpreter):

  When a vehicle with goods is passing by, we hijack it, or we kidnap you. We demand a ransom, you pay us, and we release you. But if you refuse, I have to kill you to take what you have.

• Marcia Biggs:

  Have you ever killed anyone?

• Woman (through interpreter):

  Many times.

• Marcia Biggs:

  And how does that feel?

• Woman (through interpreter):

  You forced me to kill you. I asked you for something, and you didn't give it to me. I have gotten used to it. It's nothing for me now.

• Marcia Biggs:

  What was it like the first time?

• Woman (through interpreter):

  Well, I couldn't sleep for three to four weeks. But now that I have gotten used to it, it's like a game for me to kill you.

• Marcia Biggs:

  It's been nearly five months since a Kenyan-led U.N. multinational security support mission arrived to reestablish security in Haiti. It's a force meant to be made up of 2,500 security officers from various countries. But the mission is critically underfinanced, and, so far, only around 400 have been deployed.

  Still, force commander Godfrey Otunge maintains that they have made huge strides with the little they have.

• Godfrey Otunge, Force Commander, Multinational Security Support Mission, Haiti:

  We pacified the airport. Outside the airport, this road, when we came here, people were not using it. As it is currently, it's full of traffic. we've gone to downtown.

• Marcia Biggs:

  But downtown is a no-go zone.

• Godfrey Otunge:

  It is a no-go zone for the people that didn't see the way it was before we came.

• Marcia Biggs:

  We went out on patrol with Kenyan forces to check out some of those no-go zones, areas still under gang control.

• Officer:

  We pacified this road, especially this road that leads from this junction to the U.S. Embassy. It was not passable because of the gangs. Now we need to pacify and now dominate, dominate those areas.

• Marcia Biggs:

  We pass the U.S. Embassy, whose staff can only come and go with armored cars, and where the U.S. ambassador admits to having limited contact with gangs to ensure their security. Gang members try to slow the patrol with roadblocks and burning tires, but Kenyan forces remain resolute in their mission.

  What do you say to those who are holding back the resources, who are dragging their feet about getting you what you need?

• Godfrey Otunge:

  This is the time for action, because whatever voluntary contribution they put into the trust fund is what propels this operation. So, once we get all those in terms of air support, maritime capability, personnel, the equipment that we requested, it will be fireworks, because I know where I want to go.

  I know where I started, I know where I am, and I know where I want to go.

• Marcia Biggs:

  One place the mission still hasn't gone is Cite Soleil, where gangs were born decades ago. We were able to access it with the nonprofit organization Way to Health, which provides medical care and food to children there with the tacit permission of the G-Pep gang.

  We're in a tap-tap, which is basically a pickup truck that's covered. It's a lot safer to be in a tap-tap than in our own car, because members of the G-Pep gang know this tap-tap.

  We cross the front line between the G9 and G-Pep gangs, nicknamed the Death Crossroads. Last year, G9 blocked all other roads to the G-Pep territory and raped or murdered anyone who tried to get out. Once in G-Pep territory, we switch to motorcycles, because a river of sewage and garbage makes the road impassable for cars, a physical reminder to all how forgotten this neighborhood is.

  We arrive at Way to Health's makeshift clinic for sick, malnourished children and their mothers, victims of poverty and nonexistent health care. This baby likely has typhoid. Her mother was killed, so she's being cared for by her aunt, who says she does the best she can.

• Woodleica Bernadani, Port-au-Prince Resident (through interpreter):

  Sometimes, when the baby cries, I don't have enough money to feed her, so I beg in the street. We sleep in the public square.

• Marcia Biggs:

  The people here are really struggling. They say they have no services, no electricity, no water, no schools, no hospitals. This area has been attacked many, many times. Everyone here has been a victim.

  At every turn are footprints of homes burned down now marked by string. Bullet holes puncture all remaining facades, remnants of horrific battles that took place between G9 and G-Pep.

  Pierreline Jules, Victim of Gang Violence (through interpreter): I lost two brothers during the war. We found the body of one of them. The other one was burned. People had no choice but to try to escape in the ocean, but many people died because they didn't know how to swim. Many children died that day.

• Marcia Biggs:

  During one of those attacks, seven men stormed into Pierreline Jules' home. She was raped, along with her mother and her niece.

• Pierreline Jules (through interpreter):

  They had balaclavas. They were hooded. I could only see their eyes. I was really sad. I was crying a lot. But thank God they didn't kill me.

• Marcia Biggs:

  When she showed up at the Way to Health clinic last year, she was a shell of herself.

• Pierreline Jules (through interpreter):

  I kept this as a secret with my family, and I am telling you. I didn't tell anyone else what happened to me.

• Marcia Biggs:

  But maybe the same thing has happened to your friends.

• Pierreline Jules (through interpreter):

  Yes. Some friends of mine were also raped. I don't talk about my problems to my friends. I'm a woman with a lot of secrets.

• Marcia Biggs:

  Nearby, children play where the river of sewage empties into the ocean. Most of the homes burned down have never been rebuilt. Those families now sleep in the street.

  Over 700,000 people in Haiti are now homeless because of gang violence. Without any formal camps set up to house those displaced, many of them have begun taking shelter in schools across Port-au-Prince. They are desperate for food.

  With no running water or soap, disease and pests run rampant. The children are eaten alive by bedbugs at night. Most of the women we talked to had been raped. Some are now pregnant.

  Macricia Athis lost her husband when gangs attacked her home last year. She and her four children now sleep in this former classroom, with 46 other people every night.

  Macricia Athis, Victim of Gang Violence (through interpreter): I am crying because I can't live in this misery. I don't have milk for my little one, one can of milk. I used to be able to find a can of milk. Now the children are suffering. Sometimes, I can't even feed them.

• Marcia Biggs:

  A couple of months ago, she went back to check on her home, only to find it still occupied by bandits. They raped and beat her for six hours before letting her go.

  Does it bother you that members of your gang may be raping women?

• Woman (through interpreter):

  No, because the other gangs came to our territory and did it to us. They take a 7-, 8-year-old child and rape her. It will never bother me. You made me cry, I will make you cry too.

• Marcia Biggs:

  What could the state do to end the violence?

• Woman (through interpreter):

  The state should start with their high-ranking officials first, because they are the ones who set it up. We don't take the streets of our free will. Where do we get weapons? How can I buy a Kalashnikov? How can I buy an M16? No, they must start with themselves first before that could change.

  As long as they bring us weapons, we will take them.

• Marcia Biggs:

  What do you see in your future for you and your son?

• Woman (through interpreter):

  We will not surrender ourselves to the state. If we fall, we fall together. If we survive, we survive together.

  (Gunshots)

• Marcia Biggs:

  In a state incapable or unwilling to combat such brutal resolve, violence begets more violence.

  For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Marcia Biggs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Improved audio player available on our mobile page