U.S. designates Haitian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations

The United States has officially designated two major Haitian gang coalitions as foreign terrorist organizations, in a move aimed at curbing escalating violence and instability in the Caribbean nation.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Friday that the Viv Ansanm coalition—comprised of more than two dozen heavily armed gangs—and the Gran Grif gang have been labeled both Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists under U.S. law.

“The age of impunity for those supporting violence in Haiti is over,” Rubio said in a statement. “They are a direct threat to U.S. national security interests in our region.”

The State Department cited the groups’ involvement in the widespread killing of civilians, attacks on Haitian security forces and international personnel, and efforts to overthrow Haiti’s fragile transitional government with the goal of creating a gang-dominated state.

Haiti has endured years of spiraling violence, with gangs now estimated to control 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Murders, kidnappings, and sexual violence have surged amid a near-total collapse of state authority.

Despite the recent deployment of a Kenya-led international security mission aimed at bolstering Haiti’s police force, the violence has persisted, casting doubt on the mission’s effectiveness and deepening the humanitarian crisis.

The new U.S. terrorist designations allow Washington to impose severe financial and legal penalties on anyone found to be aiding or abetting the listed groups.

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