Jimmy Chérizier — known by his street name Barbecue — had by 2021 emerged as the most prominent and politically connected criminal figure in Haiti, the leader of the G9 Family and Allies gang coalition that had consolidated control over significant swaths of Port-au-Prince and was increasingly making public political statements that positioned him as a power broker in Haiti’s deteriorating political landscape.
Chérizier, a former police officer, had built the G9 coalition from a collection of neighborhood gangs that had previously operated independently, creating a more organized and politically oriented criminal network than Haiti had previously seen at this scale. The alliance’s alleged connections to the ruling PHTK political party gave it a level of protection from law enforcement that contributed to its ability to operate with relative impunity.
By 2021, Chérizier was holding press conferences, making public political demands, and positioning the G9 as a force for popular justice against the elite — rhetoric that attracted some support among communities that had long been ignored by both the state and established political parties. This political positioning, regardless of its sincerity, made the G9 a significant actor in Haiti’s political dynamics in ways that previous criminal networks had not been.
Human rights organizations were unambiguous in their assessment: Chérizier and the G9 were responsible for multiple massacres of civilians, systematic extortion, and the displacement of thousands of families from their homes. His political rhetoric, they argued, did not change the fundamental reality of a criminal organization that had caused enormous suffering.