SUMMARY
Since the fall of the Duvalier regime in 1986, Haiti has experienced recurring waves of violence, coups, and political instability. The country’s fragile institutions, coupled with the involvement of paramilitary groups and foreign interventions, have repeatedly undermined efforts to establish lasting democratic governance.
Beginning in 2019, Haiti’s security situation deteriorated dramatically as armed gangs gained unprecedented power, taking control of large parts of Port-au-Prince and deepening the country’s political and humanitarian crises.
IN DEPTH
A history of violence
The Republic of Haiti was established in 1804 after a slave revolt against the French colonial rulers. The island's strategic role in the control of the Caribbean resulted in considerable US interest, and in 1915 the US invaded Haiti. The country was occupied for almost 20 years, and during US rule, racial segregation was reinforced. Between 1957 and 1986, Haiti was ruled by the authoritarian regimes of Dr. Francois (“Papa Doc”) Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude (“Baby-Doc”) Duvalier, both self-appointed Presidents-for-life. Following Papa Doc's initial rise to power in the 1957 elections, the Duvaliers established and used a private militia, the Tonton Macoutes, to suppress opposition against their rule. Following large-scale political unrest in the mid-1980s, the US pressured Baby-Doc Duvalier to flee into exile in France on 7 February 1986. With the approval of the US and the leading Duvalierists, a civilian-military junta led by army commander General Henri Namphy assumed power in Haiti.
The end of the 30-year long Duvalier era led to augmented tension and political violence between the opposition Macoutes and the sitting government, as well as increased violence against civilians. In July 1987, about 140 peasants were massacred by the Tonton Macoutes, when they were defending landowner's rights near the town of Jean-Rabel. During the country's first free elections attempt in 1987, more than a dozen voters were killed by Duvalierist gangs attacking polling stations. In September 1988, during a church service conducted by Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Duvalierists massacred at least a dozen people. On 17 September, young soldiers organized by General Prosper Avril overthrew Namphy and appointed Avril as the president.
1989: An unsuccessful coup attempt
On 2 April 1989, a group of elite soldiers from the Leopard Corps battalion revolted against President Prosper Avril. Avril was temporarily forced to leave the Presidential palace but was able to return later the same day. The turmoil continued the following days, and on 6 April, soldiers from the Dessalines barracks, another military unit, joined the mutiny. Nearly 50 people died before the government was able to crush the rebellion and dissolve the mutinous military units. Avril declared a state of siege in 1990 to defend democracy, but violent anti-government protests, supported by the US, forced him to step down and to flee into exile on 10 March. Ertha Pascal Trouillot was appointed provisional President, and Haiti held its first free elections on 16 December 1990. The former Roman Catholic priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, won 67% of the votes. A widely popular priest active in the slum, he was elected on the promises to champion the poor.
1991: President Aristide ousted in a violent coup
In January 1991, the Duvalier's former Minister of Interior, Roger Lafontant, who had been barred from the election, took outgoing President Pascal Trouillot hostage and tried to seize power. Violent street protests led to the death of nearly 100 people, many by necklacing (killing with burning rubber tyres). The army took quick action and suppressed the coup, and Aristide assumed the presidency on 7 February 1991. In July, Lafontant was sentenced to life in prison.
On 30 September 1991, Aristide was overthrown by a military faction led by General Raoul Cédras. Aristide was held by the coup makers, but after an intervention by the French ambassador, Cédras allowed Aristide to leave the country and fly to Venezuela. Hundreds of Aristide supporters were killed in the unrest that followed. Political killings, notably performed by an army-sponsored paramilitary group, FRAPH (Front Révolutionnaire pour lAvancement et le Progrés dHaiti, Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti), increased.
UN involvement leads to the peace agreement and the reinstallation of Aristide
The UN passed several resolutions in the Security Council regarding embargos trying to force the reinstallation of democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. On 3 July 1993, mediation by the UN and the OAS (Organization of American States) led to the signing of a peace agreement by Aristide and military leader Raoul Cédras on Governors Island, New York City. The Haitian military leaders, however, did not comply with the peace agreement, and thus prevented the return of President Aristide to the country. By mid-1994, about 4000 Aristide supporters were estimated to have been killed. In July 1994 the regime, under the new President Èmile Jonassaint, expelled UN observers, after which the UN authorized a military mission to depose the military regime. On 18 September, Operation Uphold Democracy was launched. The operation included some 21 000 troops with the mission to dismantle the Haitian army and police and reinstate Aristide as president of Haiti. Aristide returned to the country in triumph on 15 October 1994.
The political violence and instability in Haiti continued after 1994, though there was no major organized group opposing the government. The ruling party led by President Aristides OPL (Organisation Politique Lavalas, Lavalas Political Organization) split in November 1996 when Aristide founded FL (Fanmi Lavalas, Lavalas Family). A few elections took place, although their legitimacy was questioned. General Raoul Cédras was sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2000, for his role in the coup d’état in 1991 and in May 2001, previous President Prosper Avril was arrested and accused of torture of opponents during his rule. Aristide was re-elected as the president in November 2000; however, he gradually lost support with Haitians saying he had failed to improve their lives, had condoned corruption, and had used police and armed supporters to attack his political opponents.
2004: New groups, reinforced violence
In 2003, violence between supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the opposition increased. As Haiti celebrated 200 years of independence in January 2004, thousands of Haitians marched against Aristide. Aristide had gradually lost support since his re-election in 2000, and with the elimination of international aid, the humanitarian situation in Haiti had worsened. The President responded to the growing opposition by using police and armed gangs to stifle dissent. The tense situation resulted in an armed revolt on 5 February 2004 in the city of Gonaives when the rebel group RARF (Front de Résistance Artibonite, Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front), formerly known as Armée Canibale, stormed the police headquarters and freed around 100 prisoners.
During February, the conflict spread to close to a dozen other cities around the country. Different armed groups, including RARF, decided to unite under the auspices of FLRN (Front pour la Libération et la Reconstruction Nationale, National Liberation and Resistance Front). The leader of FLRN, Guy Philippe, proclaimed himself provisional president of northern Haiti. In a statement on 22 February, he announced that his goal was to take the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, that his forces would control the whole country within two weeks if Aristide did not resign, and that no power-sharing deals would be accepted. In talks in Paris between representatives of Aristides government and the French Foreign Minister, on 26-27 February, France urged Aristide to leave office before his term ended to prevent the country from erupting into civil war. Aristide stated that he had no intention to leave the office until his term was to end in 2006. On 27 February, Port-au-Prince was surrounded, and Guy Philippe said that his fighters were just waiting for orders to seize the capital. Finally, on 29 February, Aristide was forced to leave the country after not only France, but also the US called for him to leave power. Aristide claimed that the US government forced him out. From his exile in Africa, Aristide urged his followers to offer “peaceful resistance” to the US “occupation.”
Supporters of the departed President and his party FL (Fanmi Lavalas, Lavalas Family) launched “Operation Baghdad” on 30 September 2004, the anniversary of the coup that overthrew Aristide in 1991. The rebels, a people’s organization called OP Lavalas (Chimères), demanded the interim government to step down and Aristide to return to power. At least 60 people were killed in the fighting between the Lavalas and the Government during fall 2004. The conflict did not reach 25 battle-related deaths in 2005, although the situation in Haiti continued to be very violent.
Peacekeepers try to stem the violence
After Aristide went into exile on 29 February 2004, a 3500-strong US-led multinational force was sent to Haiti. In May, when the interim force was due to end its tour, the UN Security Council voted to send a peacekeeping force of up to 6700 troops and 1622 police into Haiti to ensure a secure and stable environment within which the constitutional and political process could take place. The name of this operation was MINUSTAH (Mission des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation en Haïti, United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti). In the process, the peacekeepers were charged with assisting the police in disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating into society ‘all armed groups.’ The aim was to leave Haiti with a police force of about 10 000. By the end of 2004, the UN force had close to 6000 of the authorized personnel in place in Haiti as the US forces withdrew. The MINUSTAH mandate was renewed and increased in size over the following years, with some 7000 troops and 2000 police scheduled to remain until October 2010.
As one of the main goals of MINUSTAH was to disarm all armed groups, the mission focused less on the former conflict combatants and more on reducing the violent criminality in the country. In 2005 and 2006, the situation in the country remained characterized by a large amount of violence, leading to hundreds of deaths in, for example, demonstrations, riots, and operations to disarm gangs. Gangs, ex-militaries, drug-traffickers, Aristide-supporters, and other groups were trying to spoil the political process and suspend the planned elections for various reasons. Factors that contributed to this confusing situation were the intermingling of different groups, lack of outspoken political ambitions, groups shifting sides, and an intangible mixture of criminality with political aims. After some postponements, elections were held in February 2006 and won by René Préval, who formed a new government. The elections were spared the major security disturbances that had prevented people from voting in past elections. However, the situation in Haiti remained unstable. In 2008 violence flared, and the presidential palace was attacked by angry mobs calling for the President to step down and MINUSTAH to leave the country. A total of seven people, including a Nigerian UN peacekeeper, were killed during two weeks of rioting.
Following the devastating earthquake of 12 January 2010, the UN Security Council authorized a temporary surge in MINUSTAH’s personnel. The mission’s focus further expanded to support humanitarian response and assist in rebuilding state institutions. Despite these efforts, MINUSTAH became increasingly controversial. The mission was widely criticized for its role in the 2010–2011 cholera outbreak—traced to poor sanitation practices at a UN base—which caused over 10,000 deaths and led to growing anti-UN sentiment across the country.
By the mid-2010s, amid ongoing criticism and waning legitimacy, MINUSTAH’s presence was gradually reduced. In April 2017, the UN Security Council voted to end the mission. MINUSTAH officially concluded on 15 October 2017, after 13 years of deployment. It was replaced by a smaller follow-up mission, MINUJUSTH (United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti), focused on rule of law, police development, and human rights. MINUJUSTH itself ended in October 2019, leaving behind a limited UN political presence.
Gang Power and Political Vacuum
The erosion of the state created conditions in which gang networks could expand and operate with near impunity. In June 2020, former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, known as “Barbecue,” announced the formation of a gang federation known as G9 and Family, uniting nine of the most powerful gangs in the Port-au-Prince. The alliance sought to consolidate territorial control and was widely believed to benefit from political protection, operating with a level of coordination previously unseen in Haiti’s gang landscape.
On 7 July 2021, the country was plunged into deeper turmoil when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his private residence by a group of heavily armed men, including foreign mercenaries. The attack created a dangerous political vacuum. Already weakened state institutions further collapsed, and the government’s capacity to respond to escalating gang violence was severely compromised. Rival gang coalitions, including G9 and G-Pep, engaged in violent turf wars that led to hundreds of civilian deaths and the displacement of entire communities.
By 2022 and into 2023, the absence of functioning democratic institutions—no elected president, no parliament, and indefinitely postponed elections—left a governance void that gangs filled by imposing social and political control in the areas under their influence. At the same time, kidnappings, extortion, and massacres became routine.
In February 2024, Haiti entered a new phase of crisis when the previously rival gang federations G9 and G-Pep formed a unified front called Viv Ansanm, meaning “Living Together” aiming to overthrow the government. The creation of this new coalition marked a shift from disorganized street violence to coordinated political insurgency. Under the banner of Viv Ansanm, gangs launched a wave of highly organized attacks on key state institutions, seizing police stations and targeting the main international airport, causing the collapse of basic state functions in parts of the capital. This breakdown triggered the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry and left the state unable to guarantee security, prompting the declaration of a state of emergency. Despite these measures, gang control continued to expand while violence against civilians remained constant.
The conflict between Viv Ansanm and the Haitian government persisted and continued to escalate in 2025, reaching unprecedented levels of recorded violence, though the increase in fatalities also partly reflected improvements in reporting disaggregation. This escalation was accompanied by a significant geographic expansion of hostilities, with Viv Ansanm seizing the cities of Mirebalais and Saut d'Eau in April, greatly expanding the coalition's presence beyond the Ouest department and into the Centre department. During the takeover of Mirebalais, coalition members stormed the local police station and prison, setting both buildings on fire and freeing approximately 500 inmates. As the coalition extended territorial control, confrontations with the armed forces of Haiti intensified, and in several urban areas civilian self-defense brigades began fighting alongside state forces in response. During confrontations, members of the civilian population were killed by stray bullets. Beginning in March 2025, Haitian security forces and private contractors also conducted extensive lethal drone strikes in densely populated urban areas, in some cases killing and injuring dozens of people, including children and other residents with no affiliation to criminal groups. The number of armed drone attacks increased significantly in the months that followed.
International Security Interventions in Haiti: From the MSS Mission to the Gang Suppression Force
In response to the spiraling violence and the collapse of state authority, international actors began mobilizing efforts to support Haiti's security sector. In late 2023, following a request from the Haitian government and mounting pressure from the UN, Kenya offered to lead a Multinational Security Support mission aimed at helping restore order. The mission, backed by the United Nations and financially supported by countries including the United States and Canada, was designed to bolster the Haitian National Police and assist in securing key infrastructure. However, the mission faced chronic underfunding, insufficient personnel, and significant operational constraints, and ultimately proved unable to stem the deteriorating security situation in a country where armed groups held extensive territorial control and where public trust in both domestic and international interventions remained fragile.
On 30 September 2025, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2793, authorizing the transition of the Multinational Security Support mission into a Gang Suppression Force (GSF) for an initial period of twelve months. Unlike its predecessor, whose mandate had focused on supporting and training the Haitian National Police, the GSF was mandated to conduct counter-gang operations to neutralize, isolate, and deter gangs, independently or in cooperation with Haitian security forces.
