Haiti gang boss hints at possible ceasefire – but warns foreign forces they will be treated as ‘invaders’
The head of one of Haiti’s most powerful gangs, and the de-facto head of a consortium of gangs that have brought Port-au-Prince to a standstill has told Sky News he would consider a ceasefire and talks on the political future of the country if they were included.
But Jimmy Cherizier, known universally as “Barbecue”, has predicted that more violence is imminent, adding that a recent halt in the fighting is purely a technical pause.
“There is nothing calm, but when you’re fighting you have to know when to advance and when to retreat,” he said.
“I think every day that passes we are coming up with a new strategy so we can advance, but there’s nothing calm.
“In the days that are coming things will get worse than they are now…” he told me sitting in an alleyway in his stronghold.
Political parties in Haiti, overseen by CARICOM, the Caribbean economic union of countries, are trying to form a transitional council that will take over the running of the country after the Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who is currently in the United States, stands down.
Cherizier has said they “respect CARICOM a lot” but dismissed the process as unrepresentative of the needs of the ordinary people and a smokescreen to allow “corrupt politicians” and what he calls “corrupt oligarchs” to continue running the country.
The only way the situation can move on, he insisted, is if the peace process includes him and his gang coalition.
“If the international community comes with a detailed plan where we can sit together and talk, but they do not impose on us what we should decide, I think that the weapons could be lowered,” he added.
“We don’t believe in killing people and massacring people, we believe in dialogue, we have weapons in our hand and it’s with the weapons that we must liberate this country.”
Jimmy Cherizier speaks to Sky’s Stuart Ramsay
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A vortex of violence and poverty
Haiti has been paralysed by weeks of violence that has seen whole districts burnt to the ground, tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes, while murder, rape, and gun battles are a daily occurrence.
Port-au-Prince is 80% controlled by the gangs and normal life has virtually stopped.
To get to Barbecue we were guided down a now-deserted motorway pockmarked with burnt out sections of tarmac and abandoned and burnt-out vehicles.
It’s one of the main economic highways in the capital, and now totally under his control.
We were told that their snipers were watching us, and to drive slowly, and follow our guide’s every move.
We then turned off the main road and drove through a warren of backstreets, to a meeting point where we were greeted by a group of armed gunmen in balaclavas.
One of the main economic highways in the capital is now totally under Barbecue’s control
I’ve met Barbecue before, and I knew where we were going, but everything was different this time – that deserted highway was free flowing the last time I was here. Now it is a barricaded battlefield.
Another difference is that last time we met, he wasn’t too keen on us filming his armed guards, but now he positively wanted us to see them, and was carrying two weapons himself.
The reason is simple. He is at war, and he wants the authorities and his enemies here to know that it is a war.
He’s not responsible for all the violence sweeping across Haiti’s capital but, be under no doubt, he is at the centre of it and his fighters are never far away.
Barbecue sees himself as a revolutionary for the people, and he rails against corrupt politicians and oligarchs.
He has dismissed all the efforts under way here to form a transitional council that will govern Haiti.
“We believe in dialogue, we are for dialogue, but this political class that is here now is not here for dialogue, the reason is that they don’t carry Haiti in their hearts the same way that we do.
“The political class say they are excluding bandits, that men with guns are not in it, but this is a way for them to revive the same system, because the system has reached its end.
Stuart Ramsay eyewitness Haiti turmoil
“The divide between rich and poor is too vast, in the whole world there is a divide between rich and poor, but the way it’s done in Haiti is indecent,” he told me.
He suggested though, that he is open to some form of negotiations as long as they’re represented.
“We are ready for all solutions as long as Haitians are at the table, we are ready to sit and talk with everyone, because we are not proud of what is happening in this country…”
I asked him if he accepts that if they want to have talks, they’ll have to put down their weapons.
“The weapons will be lowered when they need to be lowered,” he replied.
“At the moment we haven’t got to the point where we should put down our weapons, because the people here don’t want to listen to reason.
“We have been hearing about dialogue for more than two or three years.
“We’ve been asking for everyone to sit down and talk to the people with guns, and no one heard us. Today we have reached the point where we are advancing and our objective is clear.”
Surrounded by well-armed gunmen, Barbecue took me for a walk around some of his newly acquired territory.
He took us through the roadblocks of buses they’ve put in place to stop police raids here.
He says the last major police assault was eight days ago and he’s not sure when there will be another.
Inside his territory, despite the poverty, life is relatively peaceful and organised.
Barbecue said we should see food distribution taking place inside his community.
And unlike what we have seen in other parts of Port-au-Prince, the queues for the food Barbecue gets brought in are orderly.
People queue for food in Barbecue’s territory
The essential difference is the people waiting in line know there’s enough food and water supplies for the whole community. They just need to wait.
The issue here though is whether a poor area, controlled by a gang boss, is getting better treatment than poor areas controlled by the government.
This is the source of Barbecue’s strength.
Cherizier, a former policeman, sees himself as a sort of revolutionary freedom fighter in the style of Che Guevara, and a Robin Hood type figure for his community.
For much of the international community though, and many in Haiti, he is a criminal gang leader.
Watched on by his well-armed and battle-hardened soldiers, Barbecue says plans for an international force led by Kenya to impose peace in Port-au-Prince will lead to more violence, whoever is in charge.
When I met him last in January 2023 I asked about foreign forces. He said at the time innocent people would die if they came in. I wondered if he still held the same view.
“I believe that just like I said, if the Kenyans come, first of all they will come to commit massacres in the poor communities, because the oligarchs and the corrupt politicians are going to tell them where to go on the pretext that they’re coming to eliminate gangs and bandits, and they’re going to enter the poor communities to commit massacres,” he said.
“We at this moment who have weapons in our hands are not going to allow this.
“It’s evolving. If the Kenyan military or Kenyan police come, whatever, I will consider them as aggressors, we will consider them as invaders, and we do not have to collaborate with any invaders that have come to walk over our independence.”
Barbecue is not only leader of the G9 group of gangs, he is now also the leader of Viv Ansanm (Living Together) revolutionary group, a newly formed gang alliance.
He said he’s trying to reign the more violent gangs in, and that they need to change their ways or risk losing their revolution.
“Viv Ansanm is a collective leadership – I can’t force them. If I use force against them it will be an endless fight, we will never be able to accomplish what we want to against the people who have created this situation,” he explained.
“But every day every day we talk seven or eight times on the phone, and each time we hear on the news that they kidnap someone or something bad is done.
“I always call the guys on the phone to see how together we can correct this, and even they who have been doing it are starting to be conscious that this is bad and that they’re not going to do it anymore.
“But me I just assure myself that I continue talking to them for them to stop and not continue to do it.
“I think in time we will find a solution with a country where there are no kidnappings, without raping and killing people, and in the end we will chase the corrupt politicians and the corrupt oligarchs out of the country.”
Cherizier flies a kite
As we were getting ready to leave Cherizier paused to fly a kite.
It’s an early Easter tradition here. He laughed and joked with his people. He’s an unlikely hero but here in his territory he is.
In truth no ordinary society needs people like Barbecue, but Haiti isn’t normal.
How or when it achieves normality is impossible to predict.
Russia has launched its heaviest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war in 2022, the Ukrainian military has said.
A total of 273 exploding drones were reportedly fired across the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Some 88 were intercepted and 128 “lost”, having been electronically jammed, Ukraine’s air force said.
It passes the previous record of 267 drones on the eve of the war’s third anniversary earlier this year.
Firefighters at the site of a business premises struck by a drone outside Kyiv. Pic: Reuters
Burnt out cars and buildings in the Kyiv region on Sunday. Pic: AP
In Kyiv, a 28-year-old woman was killed, and three people, including a four-year-old child were injured, according to regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk.
Just outside the city, firefighters fought to control flames at business premises destroyed by drone attacks. Russia has not commented.
Resident Vadym Tysbenko, 22, outside his drone-struck house near Kyiv. Pic: Reuters
Emergency workers put out flames after drone strikes in Kyiv. Pic: AP
Firefighters at work in the Kyiv region on Sunday. Pic: AP
It comes ahead of a planned phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Mr Trump has promised to speak to Mr Putin and then President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday about “ending the war” after the first direct talks between their two countries failed to yield a ceasefire this week.
Mr Putin snubbed Mr Zelenskyy’s offer of face-to-face talks in Turkey.
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What happened at Russia-Ukraine peace talks?
A source from the Ukrainian negotiation team told Sky News that Russia threatened “eternal war” during talks between officials.
Kremlin representatives are also reported to have threatened that Ukraine may lose “more than just loved ones” while at the negotiating table.
Talks did bring promise of the largest ever prisoner swap between the two nations – involving 1,000 prisoners of war on each side.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said he hoped it would take place over the next week.
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Nine killed in Sumy bus strike
Elsewhere in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, on Saturday, nine people were killed and seven injured after a bus evacuating civilians was hit by a Russian drone in the town of Bilopillia, according to Ukrainian officials.
On Sunday, Mr Zelenskyy was in Vatican City attending the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City. Pic: Reuters
He was pictured shaking hands with US Vice President JD Vance after their tense clash at the White House earlier this year.
At least 103 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza overnight and into Sunday, according to hospitals and medics.
Israel has launched an escalation of its war in Gaza to ramp up pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.
Meanwhile, Israel says talks with Hamas taking place in Qatar this weekend involve discussions on ending the war as well as a truce and hostage deal.
Addressing the strikes overnight, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said: “Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment”.
The ministry also said airstrikes had forced the closure of the Indonesian Hospital, the main hospital serving people in northern Gaza.
Nasser hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, said more than 48 people – mostly women and children – were killed in the area, including tents sheltering displaced people.
Smoking debris after an airstrike at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza on Sunday. Pic: Reuters
Saleh Zenati carries the body of his nephew killed in Khan Younis on Sunday. Pic: AP
In Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, at least 12 people were killed in three separate strikes, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital and the Nuseirat camp’s Awda hospital.
Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry and the Palestinian Civil Defence – which operates under the Hamas-run government – reported that 19 people were killed in multiple strikes in Jabalia, northern Gaza.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the latest strikes.
Peace talks include ending war in Gaza
It comes as peace talks between Israel and Hamas continue in Qatar this weekend, including discussions about ending the war.
A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said on Sunday that any lasting truce must include the demilitarisation of Gaza as well as the exile of Hamas militants.
But a senior Israeli official added that the talks in the capital, Doha, had made little progress so far.
Sky News Arabia reported that Hamas had proposed freeing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
A Palestinian official close to the discussions said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”
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On Saturday, Israel ramped up attacks on Gaza
Four journalists killed in Israeli airstrikes
Details have emerged on Sunday about the deaths of four Palestinian journalists in Gaza following Israeli airstrikes.
Abdel Rahman al Abadleh was missing for two days before his body was found in the town of al Qarara in southern Gaza.
Three other journalists were also killed following strikes on Saturday. Aziz al Hajjar, his wife and children, died in the Bir al Naaja neighbourhood of northern Gaza.
Ahmed al Zenati, his wife Noor al Madhoun and their children Mohammad and Khaled, were killed in Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, in Deir al Balah, central Gaza, Nour Qandil, her husband Khaled Abu Seif, and their young daughter were also killed.
![Sourced via Rosabel Crean from SN For Desk:
[LEFT] Journalist Abdel Rahman Al-Abadleh had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Al-Qarara, southern Gaza. He had been missing for two days, and only this morning his fate was confirmed
[RIGHT] Journalist Aziz Al-Hajjar, his wife, and their children were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Bir Al-Naaja neighbourhood in northern Gaza](https://e3.365dm.com/25/05/768x432/skynews-abdel-rahman-al-abadleh_6920075.png?20250518095346)
Abdel Rahman al Abadleh (L) and Aziz al Hajjar (R) are among four journalists killed in Gaza. Pic: Family handouts
![Sourced via Rosabel Crean from SN For Desk:
[LEFT] Journalist Ahmed Al-Zenati, his wife Noor Al-Madhoun and their children Mohammad and Khaled were tragically slaughtered last night in an Israeli airstrike that hit their displacement tent in Khan Younis
(RIGHT) Journalist Nour Qandil, her husband Khaled Abu Seif, and their young daughter were all killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, according to local sources](https://e3.365dm.com/25/05/768x432/skynews-ahmed-al-zenati-noor-al-madhoun_6920074.png?20250518095156)
Journalists Ahmed al Zenati (L) and Nour Qandil (R) also died in airstrikes. Pic: Family handouts
Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March. It is attempting to pressurise Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages and has approved plans that could involve seizing the whole of Gaza and controlling aid.
‘Systematic campaign targeting hospitals’
Earlier on Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry issued a statement accusing Israel of “intensifying its systematic campaign to target hospitals”.
“After putting the European Gaza Hospital out of service a few days ago, the Israeli occupation has intensified its targeting and siege of the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip since dawn today,” it added.
Israel has previously denied deliberately targeting civilians and accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes.
This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.
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Mass protests on Saturday mark 77 years since the Nakba
Houthis launch missile towards Israel
Separately, the Israeli military said on Sunday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards Israel.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they had targeted Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv with two ballistic missiles.
The Houthis have fired at Israel because of the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, while Israel has carried out airstrikes in response, including one on 6 May that damaged Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa and killed several people.
The war in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 others.
Israel’s military response has killed more than 53,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Donald Trump has said he will speak to Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately on Monday in a bid to secure a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine.
The US president made the announcement on Truth Social – shortly after the Ukrainian president condemned Russia for the “deliberate killing of civilians” after a drone hit a bus in northeastern Ukraine.
Mr Trump said he will speak to Mr Putin over the phone. He will then talk with Mr Zelenskyy and “various members of NATO”, he wrote.
In an all-caps post, he said: “HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END. GOD BLESS US ALL!!!”
The Ukrainian town of Bilopillia has declared a period of mourning lasting until Monday after nine people were killed in a Russian drone attack – which occurred just hours after Kyiv and Moscow held peace talks.
Seven others were injured, Ukrainian authorities said. The bus was evacuating civilians from a frontline area when the drone hit, the country’s national police said.
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Nine killed in Russian strike on bus
A “father, mother and daughter” were among the dead, Mr Zelenskyy said, writing on Telegram: “All the deceased were civilians. And the Russians could not have failed to understand what kind of vehicle they were targeting.”
The attack was also condemned by British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who said he was “appalled”.
“If Putin is serious about peace, Russia must agree to a full and immediate ceasefire, as Ukraine has done,” he wrote on X.
Representatives for Kyiv and Moscow met for direct peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey, just hours before the drone attack.
While the discussions – which were not attended by the Mr Putin or Mr Zelenskyy – did not result in a truce, both countries agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners in their biggest swap yet.
Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said on national television the exchange could happen as early as next week.
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What happened at Ukraine talks?
Russia ‘threatened eternal war’ at peace talks
After a Ukrainian official on Friday said Russia made “unacceptable” demands during the discussions, a source from the Kyiv delegation has now told Sky News that Moscow threatened “eternal war”.
Separately, a senior Kyiv official said Russia’s proposed ceasefire terms included the full withdrawal of troops from four regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk.
Moscow also called for international recognition that those regions and Crimea – annexed in 2014 – are Russian and for Ukraine to become a neutral state, with no allied troops stationed there, they said.
The Kremlin declined to comment on the matter.
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Ukraine has rallied support from its allies following the talks, and a number have spoken out.
French President Emmanuel Macron said: “Today, what do we have? Nothing. And so I tell you, faced with President Putin’s cynicism, I am sure that President Trump, mindful of the credibility of the United States, will react.”
The EU is working on a new package of sanctions against Moscow, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
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