Haitian vigilantes reduce kidnappings
May 31, 2023
Violence by armed gangs in Haiti — where criminal groups control large swaths of territory — has fallen in the past month, since the emergence of a vigilante justice movement, according to a local rights group. At least 160 alleged gang members were hunted down, burned alive and lynched across the country since April 24. (Le National)
The Centre d'Analyse et de Recherche en Droits de l'Homme (CARDH) said that kidnappings dropped drastically in the month after a group of Port-au-Prince residents lynched and set fire to more than a dozen suspected gang members on April 24. The group documented 43 gang-related murders in that time period, compared to 146 homicides in the preceding month. (Reuters)
"Without making a value judgment, the 'Bwa Kale' movement has in just one month produced convincing, visible results; fear has changed sides," CARDH said in the report. "Both kidnappings and gang-related killings have fallen drastically."
The “Bwa Kale” movement — Haitian Creole for “peeled wood” — reflects frustration over insecurity in a country increasingly described as a failed state.
The economic and security crises have left people feeling “like a bwa kale, a branch without bark. The majority of roads in the country are blocked. The economy is dry. People are sometimes skin and bones and in many cases almost no possessions. Faced with the problems associated with armed violence, they have almost nothing to lose. Most of Port-au-Prince is under the control of armed criminal groups,” explains DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO, a Haitian journalist collective.
CARDH linked the emergence of the vigilante group to extreme cruelty inflicted by gangs — which have used kidnappings, murders and sexual violence to control communities — as well as government ineffectiveness, particularly that of security forces.
But rights advocates warn that lynch mobs are not a security solution. Vigilantes could be targeting people who are not gang members — either by mistake or intentionally to settle unrelated scores — and could foster further violence. (Washington Post)
CARDH said Bwa Kale must be replaced by a permanent security solution to avoid brutal gang retaliations. (Washington Times)
The UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) said in the month of April alone, more than 600 people were killed in violence in the country's capital. This follows the killing of at least 846 people in the first three months of 2023.
BINUH said that overall, the number of victims of killings, injuries and kidnappings increased by 28 per cent in the first quarter of the year, with a total of 1,634 cases reported.
More Haiti
A total of 4.9 million people in Haiti – nearly half of the country's population – are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the United Nations.
The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization warned of starvation risk in Haiti, adding the country to the list of communities already facing or projected to face starvation or otherwise risk a slide “towards catastrophic conditions.” (Associated Press)
Lula calls for regional integration, embraces Maduro
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urged his South American counterparts to pursue greater integration, and criticized what he identified as ideological divisions that derailed previous efforts at regional cooperation.
“In the region, we let ideologies divide us and stop our efforts for integration. We abandoned the channels of dialogue and the mechanisms of cooperation and, as a result, we all lost out,” he said, at the beginning of a summit of South American leaders he hosted in Brasília yesterday. “Either we get together to fight among ourselves and defend our interests together, or we are puppets in the hands of the big economies,” he said at a later speech.
In his speech, Lula promoted the idea of creating a regional trade currency, one that could rival the dominance of the United States dollar.
But Lula’s exhortations were overshadowed by controversy regarding Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Lula embraced Maduro at a meeting before the gathering, saying charges against Maduro of human and civil rights abuses were part of a political “narrative” and condemned U.S. sanctions on his government as “worse than war.”
There has been a shift towards greater engagement with Maduro, after years of diplomatic isolation, and the restoring of relations between Brazil and Venezuela is expected, as is Lula’s efforts to mediate in negotiations for free and fair elections in Venezuela.
“His decision to reestablish diplomatic ties and to invite Maduro is, above all, a pragmatic one that is largely in tune with the West’s acceptance that its strategy of recognizing Juan Guaidó as interim president has failed and that Maduro is here to stay,” wrote Oliver Stuenkel in Americas Quarterly this week.
But critics said his warm embrace towards Maduro went too far, giving ammunition to his opponents. And his statements received pushback from both right-wing Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou and leftist Chilean President Gabriel Boric.
“We are glad that Venezuela is returning to multilateral bodies [...] This, however, cannot mean sweeping under the rug principles that are important to us,” said Boric. “The human rights situation is not a narrative construction, it is a serious reality.”
Leaders at yesterday’s meeting signed the Brasilia Consensus, a document that reaffirms the need for regional integration in many areas, and establishes a contact group with each country’s foreign affairs’ minister to continue dialogue.
But experts say the push for integration and to relaunch UNASUR will face difficulties as the region’s government’s shift ideologies with elections.
(AFP, Associated Press, El País, Washington Post, Al Jazeera)
Brazil
Brazil's Chamber of Deputies approved a bill to limit the recognition of new Indigenous reservations, last night. The decision seen by environmentalists and human rights advocates as a setback and a response to intense pressure from the farm lobby, reports Reuters.
Indigenous groups blocked a highway outside São Paulo and burned tires to protest the measures earlier yesterday. Police dispersed them with tear gas.
Critics say the legislation, which now moves to the Senate, poses a series of profound threats to Indigenous communities and the environment, reports the Guardian. These include potentially opening the door to Amazon development, as well as authorizing contact with isolated Indigenous groups. It would allow the government to reclaim land from Indigenous communities whose “cultural traits” are deemed to have changed. And the legislation could also invalidate Indigenous claims to lands such groups could not prove they physically occupied on the day Brazil’s constitution was enacted in October 1988.
Peru
The monthly IEP poll shows that Peruvian views of the abuses that occurred during the protest wave in December and January have worsened after the protests quieted down — Latin America Risk Report.
Regional
Journalism and press freedom are under attack in Central America, where reporters are killed or face judicial persecution, media outlets are shut down or confiscated and authorities obstruct access to public information, according to the Miami-based Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and other regional media advocacy groups. (EFE)
Regional Relations
Colombia and Venezuela have reached an agreement to search for remains of victims who were killed by paramilitaries during Colombia's internal armed conflict and reportedly buried in Venezuela, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said yesterday. (Reuters)
Venezuela
Pedro Tellechea, the new head of Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, is targeting endemic corruption and angling to win over its 95,000 workers, reports Reuters.
Argentina
Argentina’s Cabinet Chief Agustín Rossi threw his hat into the ring for October’s presidential election, in the midst of disagreement within the ruling Frente de Todos coalition over whether to present a unity candidate or competing tickets in August’s open primaries. (The Road to the Casa Rosada)
Mexico
The PRI’s likely demise in the upcoming Mexico State gubernatorial elections (see yesterday’s briefs) are yet another sign of the traditional dominant party’s decline, potentially irreversible ahead of next year’s presidential elections, reports El País.