‘We don’t kidnap, we don’t rape, we are fathers’: Haiti gang steps in to fill gap left by political failure
Arriving in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, the sheer scale of the poverty takes your breath away.
The streets are teeming with people but everywhere is shrouded in acrid smoke from piles of burning rubbish.
From the hills above Port-au-Prince, the city at times disappears in a fog of polluted air.
Wherever you walk people ask for money. Beggars trudge amid the crowds, unemployment is high and kidnapping of anyone – not just the rich – is a constant fear.
Gangs control 60% of the entire capital.
Much of the city is a no-go area, it’s simply too dangerous to venture inside the territory of the hundred-or-so gangs who operate here.
The police seem powerless to break the gangs down. They patrol in masks, carrying machine guns, but they do little to stop the crime rates that have rocketed in recent years.
Civil society has been crushed by political failure.
There are no elected officials in office; the country is run by politicians with no mandate and virtually no popular support.
A cholera outbreak is ripping through the slums of Port-au-Prince and millions are starving.
G9 is a coalition of gangs battling for supremacy in Port-au-Prince
A ‘no guns’ sign painted on the wall outside the health clinic in G9 territory
Haiti hasn’t really recovered from a devastating earthquake in 2010. I was there then and have returned in the intervening years.
Each time, I’m shocked that rather than getting better, it’s getting worse.
This country is falling apart and there is no safety net. The perverse reality is that the gangs have stepped in to fill the gap.
They offer work, protection, and security to those who welcome them.
I went to meet one of the leaders – he’s arguably the most famous, and he’s certainly the most vociferous.
Through a myriad of alleyways I was taken to his stronghold, surrounded by hooded armed men not wanting to show their faces on camera, I was introduced to the man known as ‘Barbecue’.
Barbecue is actually Jimmy Cherizier, a former policeman, now gang boss who is the acknowledged mouthpiece for a coalition of gangs called the G9.
Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier has survived four assassination attempts
Folklore says his sobriquet comes from the way he treated his victims; his friends say it’s because his mum ran a fried chicken stall and he’s had the nickname since he was a child.
Either way, as he took large diamond earrings out and passed his revolver to a gunman before we could film, I decided I didn’t want to find out which story was nearer the truth.
Barbecue requested we first sat down for an interview before he walked me around his territory, pretty much in the centre of Port-au-Prince.
He describes G9 as a group of armed young men and women with an ideology to change the lives of those who live in Haiti’s notorious slums.
The Caribbean country has been bad for years and there is now no elected controlling authority at all.
Police patrol but seem unable to break the gangs’ grip
Some countries are actively considering sending in foreign soldiers to impose order, but Barbecue warns it will only end in disaster.
“If we have an intervention, the international community is understanding enough to sit down and have a decent conversation with everyone,” he told me.
“But if they try to resolve it with guns, I think, many people in the slums could die and they will kill mostly innocent people, more than the guilty ones.”
Barbecue is a natural politician.
Many here question why at obvious moments of political vacuum he hasn’t ascended the steps of the presidential palace and taken control.
There were two separate opportunities, I am told, by well-connected commentators who believe he could’ve grasped power – but he didn’t.
‘Barbecue’ says G9 wants to improve the conditions of people in the slums
The leader of G9 is constantly escorted by armed guards
He is sanctioned by the UK and its allies for “engaging in acts threatening the peace, security and stability of Haiti”.
“I would like for one person to prove what they are accusing me of,” Barbecue told me. “I am a victim of a bunch of lies.”
Amongst the Haitian elite there is a view that Barbecue is in fact the pawn of a higher power.
He denies this and says he’s a man of the people, and that G9 territory is home to 12 million people. “We took up guns to change the living conditions of those less fortunate in the slums, we said it’s to change their lives, we don’t use guns to kidnap people,” he insisted.
Barbecue’s G9 is not known to be part of the overwhelming number of kidnappings taking place in Haiti today.
“We don’t kidnap, and we don’t rape. We are all fathers, we have sisters, aunts, we have kids. I have a daughter myself – I could never allow rape to happen around me.
“We don’t kill for money, but we do have guns to defend ourselves, because we can’t let others kill us.”
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Midway through our chat, his guards a few metres up the road started messing about and laughing loudly, he was out of his seat in seconds.
His anger was clear as he told them to shut up in no uncertain terms. He returned to his seat and apologised.
For the hours we were with Barbecue he was constantly escorted by these machine-gun-toting guards.
He has survived four assassination attempts.
A man lights candles for police officers killed by armed gangs. Pic: Reuters
As we walked through his neighbourhood, people came out to greet him – some fist-pumping, others shaking his hand, many just staring.
He dispenses money and largesse. It’s hard to explain but this place is like a castle and inside Barbecue is the king.
He sees himself as a revolutionary fighting against the dark corruption of government and oligarch businessmen, but he is a gang leader. And his land – like all other gangs – is always under attack.
In some parts of his territory, his enemies are only one wall away.
We watched as he inspected his fighters manning the frontline barricades. Some are just breeze block walls with gaps for them to fire through.
In other streets, sheets and blankets are strung up across the roadway to obscure the view of enemy snipers. The last time I saw that was in Aleppo, Syria.
Make no mistake, Port-au-Prince is a war zone.
But the irony is, when we were filming, we were safer in the G9 gang’s territory than on most of the capital’s streets, where kidnapping, murder and rape are endemic. And that is something every single person lives with here every single day.
Pics: Dominique Van Heerden/Toby Nash/Reuters
World
Brutal murder on ‘date’ exposes robbery gang suspected of targeting dozens of women in South Africa
Thirty-year-old Olorato Mongale made sure to take all the measures necessary for a safe first date in South Africa’s biggest city, Johannesburg.
She had agreed to meet ‘John’ in the daytime. She sent her friends her phone location after leaving her house and promptly texted them “on the road” at 2.47pm.
They replied “enjoy!”, hoping she would find love.
An hour later, their friend had gone silent and her phone location was showing up in dangerous areas of the city.
A search party of seven friends set off to trace Olorato’s digital footsteps.
It’s believed Olorato’s killers were part of a gang robbing young women at gunpoint
“It didn’t make sense. Where is she? Why is she missing?” says Karabo Mokoena, as we drove to the locations involved in their search.
“Every place we went to looked dodgier and dodgier. It made me panic – I was very scared.”
After finding her bag on a pile of bricks off the side of a main road, they filed a missing person report at a police station.
“I thought there was no way we were not going to find her. We did end up finding her but not in the way we would have hoped,” says Karabo.
Olorato’s body had been dumped at the dirt entrance of a random house less than 100m from where her friends were searching into the night.
Her face was swollen and her eyes black-blue from violent impact. Her top was ripped open to expose her breasts.
Police told Sky News that her post-mortem showed signs of blunt force trauma. She was likely beaten to death.
Olorato’s body was dumped outside this gate – she was likely beaten to death
“It was like I was dreaming, seeing her body like that with those bruises and blood everywhere,” says Olorato’s mother, Keabetswe Poppy Mongale, describing the moment she had to identify her only child at the morgue.
“I don’t think what I saw will ever go away,” she adds.
“It was very painful. I don’t wish that on any parent because my beautiful little girl looked different because someone chose to do that to her.”
Olorato’s mother says the image of her daughter in the morgue will never go away
CCTV from the driveway of Olorato’s building shows the last time she was seen alive, leaving her home to meet ‘John’.
In the video, she walks towards a white Volkswagen Polo and hesitates as she reaches the left back door. John had come with a friend.
Four days after Olorato was killed, police found the car in a different province with traces of her blood splattered across the back seat.
CCTV showed Olorato walking to a car for what she thought was a date
One suspect was shot dead but the second man is still on the run
Philangenkosi Sibongokuhle Makanya – ‘John’ – was shot dead by police in KwaZulu-Natal shortly after they found the vehicle.
The second man in the car, Bongani Mthimkhulu, is still on the run.
The two men have since been identified as part of a dangerous criminal syndicate that lure young women out on dates and rob them at gunpoint.
“Within the four days, the investigating officers received 94 calls from women who were raising concerns and identifying the suspects as those they once met,” South African Police Service deputy national commissioner Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili told Sky News.
“It was unfortunate about Olorato, but others were released after being robbed.”
Olorato’s friends say she ‘ticked all the boxes when it came to being careful’
A 24-year-old student who survived an armed robbery at the hands of Olorato’s suspected killers says she was happy to see Philangenkosi killed but she’s still scared for her life.
“As women, we are not even safe anymore – we can’t even walk freely,” she says.
“The moment you leave your house you wonder if you will make it back alive. I don’t feel comfortable walking around the street. I leave the house and then turn back.
“Even when I’m home, I still don’t feel safe and always want to keep myself locked indoors,” she says with a shaky voice – choosing to remain anonymous.
After meeting other victims of the syndicate, she was shocked to hear details of almost identical abductions.
“This other girl was surprised because we went through the exact same situation. They also approached her with the same tactic – let me take you out to lunch to get to know you – only for her to be robbed.”
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South Africa has one of the highest femicide rates in the world – an average 15 women are killed a day, many by their intimate partners.
According to police statistics, more than 5,500 women were murdered in South Africa last year. An increase of 33.8% compared with the previous year.
“South Africa has six times the average rate of femicide – hundreds of women have already been killed since Olorato’s murder,” says Cameron Kasambala from Women for Change.
The advocacy group raises awareness of rising cases of femicide and gender-based violence across South Africa.
Campaigner Cameron Kasambala says many femicide cases take a long time to be resolved
In the hours after her murder, Olorato’s friends contacted Women for Change to share her missing poster after receiving little immediate help from the local police station.
“I think her friends were the real heroes in that moment,” says Cameron.
“Two police stations that were 10 minutes apart, one finds a body and one has a missing case, don’t make a connection for hours. It’s not the most reassuring police work. And if the friends had not come forward, how long would it have taken?
“Unfortunately, Olorato’s case is an exception. Most cases are not handled that quickly.”
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Olorato’s friends say she would be ‘proud to know that her name has not gone in vain’
Olorato’s friends are still contending with the violence of her death – what it means for their daily lives and how they navigate their safety as women in South Africa.
“It is difficult to process and difficult to believe. This is somebody who ticked all the boxes when it came to being careful – being meticulous, checking her surroundings and leaving clues,” says Olorato’s friend, Koketso Sejosengoe.
“It shows it can happen to anybody no matter how safe you are. It is happening to the average girl. They are being targeted. These men know what they are doing and who they are looking for.”
“In the purest sense, Olorato wanted women to be safe and wanted women to be protected,” adds Koketso.
“I think she would be very proud to know that her name has not gone in vain and that her death is standing for something – that there will be change that comes with this.”
Major heatwaves across southern Europe have left Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece in sweltering conditions of more than 40C (104F).
Two-thirds of Portugal was on high alert for extreme heat and risk of wildfires on Sunday, with temperatures in Lisbon expected to exceed 42C (107F).
In parts of southern Spain, temperatures are well above average, with 42C also expected in Seville and other cities.
The country’s meteorological service says June is likely to be the hottest Spain has experienced since records began.
In several Italian regions, including Lazio, Tuscany, Calabria, Puglia, and Umbria, outdoor work was banned during peak hours of sun on Sunday, with trade unions pushing for the measures to be extended and rolled out nationwide.
Twenty-one out of 27 cities were under the highest possible heat alert, including Rome, Milan, and Naples.
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Greece has already been plagued by wildfires this summer, with one breaking out south of Athens on Thursday, and several on the island of Chios last Sunday.
Near Athens, authorities deployed 130 firefighters, 12 helicopters, and 12 planes, with 40 people evacuated from the highest-risk areas.
A woman was arrested on suspicion of unintentional arson after wildfires spread across brush and pastureland for three days on Chios.
Flames rise above Thymari, near Athens, after wildfires broke out on Friday. Pic: Reuters
Tourists battle scorching temperatures at the Parthenon in Greece on Friday. Pic: Reuters
Scientists link increasing frequencies of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, wildfires, and storms to climate change.
In France and Germany, at least three people died amid stormy conditions.
A ridge of high pressure above central and western Europe is driving the scorching conditions, says Sky News meteorologist Chris England.
Hotter-than-normal sea temperatures, dry land, and surface winds are also partly to blame, he added.
Tourists in Retiro Park in Madrid on Saturday. Pic: AP
Locals fan themselves in Lisbon on Saturday. Pic: AP
UK heatwave also likely
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UK heatwaves explained
The UK is halfway through a four-day amber heat health alert, with temperatures expected to peak in the mid-30s (86F) on Tuesday.
Heat health alerts are not public weather warnings – but are instead designed to prepare health and social care bodies for the potential impact on their infrastructure and vulnerable groups.
Heatwave thresholds are likely to be met on Monday and Tuesday, which vary between 28C (82F) in the south of England and 25C (77F) across the rest of the country.
A British-Israeli soldier has been killed while fighting in Gaza, Israeli media reports said.
He was named locally as Sergeant Yisrael Natan Rosenfeld, 20, from the city of Ra’anana.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it is “looking into reports that an IDF soldier who died in combat in Gaza is a British national”.
The IDF soldier, who served in the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, was killed by an explosive device on Sunday, the Times of Israel reported.
The paper said Mr Rosenfeld moved to Israel from London with his family 11 years ago.
More than 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Israel’s war against Hamas began on 7 October 2023, more than 400 of them during the fighting in Gaza.
The war began when the militant group launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has devastated the enclave and killed more than 56,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children.
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It came as Donald Trump called for progress in ceasefire talks in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” the US president wrote on social media on Sunday.
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On Friday Mr Trump raised expectations by claiming there could be an agreement within the next week.
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