As Haiti’s political crisis weakened the state’s capacity to provide security across Port-au-Prince, neighborhood self-defense groups began proliferating in some communities, filling the vacuum left by an overstretched police force. These groups — sometimes called baz in Kreyòl — ranged from genuine community protection organizations to vigilante groups whose methods raised serious human rights concerns.
In some neighborhoods, community leaders organized watch groups of young men who monitored their streets, established checkpoints at neighborhood entrances, and responded to reports of criminal activity. These groups often had close relationships with the community, knew their neighbors, and focused genuinely on protecting residents from theft and assault. Their emergence reflected both the genuine security needs of the community and the creative local responses that Haitians consistently developed in the absence of state services.
But the proliferation of armed groups also created new dangers. Without training, oversight, or accountability mechanisms, some groups devolved into extortion rackets that preyed on the communities they claimed to protect. Cases of vigilante violence — including the killing of individuals accused of crimes without any judicial process — were reported by human rights organizations.
The self-defense group phenomenon illustrated a recurring dilemma in Haiti: the weakness of the state created genuine security needs that communities had to address somehow, but the solutions communities developed in the absence of state capacity could themselves become security problems. Breaking this cycle required building state capacity, not just better-organized community responses.