U.N. Considers Sanctions, International Mission to Restore Security in Haiti

A revised draft of the sanctions resolution debated Wednesday by Security Council members dropped language from an earlier draft encouraging the deployment of a multinational force to help the Haitian police restore order in the nation, the poorest in the Americas, according to documents seen by The Wall Street Journal.

The draft said that Haiti’s situation “continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security in the region,” leaving open the possibility of the U.N. eventually sending a security force to the country.

Such a force would likely be composed of police and soldiers, said a U.N. official. “The police are better trained to deal with the gangs, while the military would provide the robust element,” the official said.

Russia, one of the Security Council’s five permanent members, has voiced opposition to the proposed sanctions, while a Chinese representative at the U.N. questioned the wisdom of sending a security force.

“At a time when the Haitian government lacks legitimacy and is unable to govern, will sending such a rapid-reaction force to Haiti receive the understanding, support, or even trigger violent confrontation?” asked Geng Shuang, speaking for China at the U.N. Security Council on Monday.

A senior Latin American official said there isn’t an obvious country in the region that is willing to lead a force. The U.S. appears reluctant.

“I think it’s premature to really start thinking about whether the United States is going to…have a physical presence inside of Haiti,” a senior U.S. official told reporters last week.

Another obstacle to an eventual mission is the opposition of many Haitians to foreign intervention.

Thousands of people across Haiti protested Monday, some waving Russian flags in front of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. Opposition parties and civil-society groups opposed to Prime Minister Ariel Henry say that an intervention would prop up his government.

But there seems to be no debate that Mr. Cherizier, the gang leader, has pushed Haiti deeper into crisis, where 4.7 million people are now facing acute hunger, according to the U.N.

“The more power he grabs, the more power he’s going to have to negotiate,” said Louis-Henri Mars, executive director of Lakou Lape, a nongovernment organization working on peacebuilding initiatives in Haiti’s gang-ravaged communities.

Mr. Cherizier, a former police officer, has stepped into a power vacuum amid the turmoil that followed the still-unsolved July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Mr. Cherizier leads a coalition of nine gangs which for the past month have blocked off all access to the country’s main sea terminal. The violence, unrest and economic hardship that he has caused is pushing more Haitians to flee to the U.S.

“He is directly responsible for the devastating fuel shortage that is crippling the country,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said at the Security Council meeting.

Last month, Mr. Cherizier used a bulldozer to dig a deep ditch in front of the entrance to the port, blocking all traffic between the terminal and the capital of Port-au-Prince. The blockade coincides with a cholera outbreak that has killed at least 18 people in the capital amid shortages of clean water and fuel.

Mr. Cherizier’s gunmen have broken into the terminal three times, taking four tanker trucks of fuel containing more than 28,000 gallons of petroleum products, according to terminal operators. Videos posted on social media show the stolen fuel, which had an estimated value of around $700,000, being sold by the side of the road.

“Cherizier and his G9 gang confederation are actively blocking the free movement of fuel from the Varreux fuel terminal—the largest in Haiti,” the U.N. draft resolution says. “His actions have directly contributed to the economic paralysis and humanitarian crisis in Haiti.”

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called on Oct. 8 for an armed rapid-action force to open the port, remove the threat posed by the armed gangs and provide fuel, food and medicine to the stricken country, following a plea by the Haitian prime minister to the international community.

Earlier this month, a scowling Mr. Cherizier stood in front of the port entrance carrying an automatic rifle, and called for the 72-year-old Mr. Henry to resign.

“The moment has come,” said Mr. Cherizier, dressed in his trademark fatigues and black beret. Haitian police have been unable to dislodge the gang members from the port.

Some 100 gangs control as much as two-thirds of Haiti’s national territory, engaging in activities such as contraband and arms trafficking to kidnappings, human-rights groups say. The gangs terrorize poor neighborhoods with massacres, rapes and extortion, and often have connections to powerful politicians and rich businessmen.

Mr. Cherizier stands out for his political ambition and theatrical flair, including his periodic distribution of food to slum dwellers as police look on. The former policeman presents himself as a revolutionary leader fighting for Haiti’s oppressed masses.

“He’s media savvy. He’s ruthless. And, yes, he has a certain amount of political intelligence. He has a lot of relationships at the political level,” said Mr. Mars.

Mr. Cherizier says he got his nickname of Barbecue because his mother was known for the barbecued chicken she sold on the streets of the slum where the family lived.

As a young man, he joined the Haitian National Police, receiving training from U.N. military police instructors. But much of the time he was moonlighting, setting up his own criminal gang, known as Delmas 6 after his Port-au-Prince neighborhood.

He cultivated links to the late President Moïse’s government. Haitian human-rights activists say he acted as an enforcer, terrorizing Mr. Moïse’s political enemies, especially in the massive Cité Soleil slum, while keeping a hand in lucrative kidnapping, extortion and gunrunning businesses.

The U.S. Treasury put Mr. Cherizier on a blacklist for his role in organizing a 2018 attack on the La Saline slum that destroyed 400 houses and left at least 71 people dead, among other alleged atrocities. Two officials in the Moïse government were also blacklisted for planning the massacre. Mr. Cherizier and his associates couldn’t be reached for comment.

The gangs led by Mr. Cherizier “repress political dissent in Port-au-Prince neighborhoods known to participate in antigovernment demonstrations,” the U.S. Treasury said. In exchange, they receive money, political protection and enough guns that they are better armed than Haiti’s police, the U.S. Treasury said in a 2020 statement.

Pierre Esperance, a leading human-rights activist, says Mr. Cherizier is responsible for at least 13 massacres, but he faces no charges in any of these killings. Haitian authorities have issued a warrant against Mr. Cherizier, who was fired from the police in 2018 for dereliction of duty and allegedly possessing illegal weapons.

—Kejal Vyas and William Mauldin contributed to this article.

Write to José de Córdoba at jose.decordoba@wsj.com