Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, Leader of the G9 Gang Becomes De facto Leader of Haiti

Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, Leader of the G9 Gang, has become Haiti’s de facto leader following Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation.

Before the overthrow, Cherizier had earlier warned that Haiti would witness genocide if the Prime Minister, Henry, failed to resign. Barbecue maintained that if Henry insisted on staying in power, the West, France, and Africa could all expect a civil war against Henry and the international community, including the United Nations.

This pressure has led to the resignation of the Prime Minister, leaving the former police officer turned gang leader to take control of Haiti’s government. A resignation the U.S. denied its involvement despite the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s meeting in Jamaica preceded Henry’s resignation.

In an interview with Sky News, Barbecue said, “Today, we are taking the occasion to tell the international community to give Haiti a chance. Because of what is happening in Haiti now, we Haitians have to decide who will lead the country and what model of government we want. We will also figure out how to get Haiti out of its misery now.”

He further adds, “Today, it’s clear that the people who live in the shanty towns are the ones who know what they are going through. It is the Haitian people who are going to take their destiny into their own hands. Haitian people will pick the person to govern them.”

Meanwhile, Haitians have criticised the recent events of the power transition as what appears to have been the hands of Western nations following the prison outbreaks.

Nonetheless, Haiti’s current state of affairs has a long history of chaos, with its Independence remaining the leading cause of decades-old unrest, as earlier reported, especially as the Western intervention recently proposed by the UN is not new to the citizens of Haiti.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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