Days after nationwide protests erupted over the government’s elimination of fuel subsidies, the G9 Family and Allies gang coalition led by Jimmy Chérizier imposed a new blockade of the Varreux fuel terminal — the country’s main petroleum distribution hub — in what appeared to be a coordinated effort to maximize the economic and political pressure on the Henry government. The blockade cut off fuel supplies to the entire country, intensifying the crisis created by the subsidy removal and threatening to bring essential services to a complete halt.
Hospitals that depended on generators for electricity immediately began reporting critical fuel shortages. The National University Hospital issued an emergency appeal for fuel, warning that patients on life support and in intensive care were at risk. Water treatment and distribution systems that required electricity-powered pumps were threatened. The blockade was not just an economic weapon — it was a direct threat to human lives.
Chérizier framed the blockade as a response to the government’s subsidy removal and positioned the G9 as defenders of the poor against a government that was making ordinary people pay for its fiscal failures. The political framing, whatever its sincerity, demonstrated the gang coalition’s ability to present itself as a political actor and to leverage the genuine popular anger over fuel prices for its own ends.
The Henry government condemned the blockade and called on international partners to help restore access to the terminal. The police attempted to clear gang positions around Varreux but faced armed resistance that they lacked the capacity to overcome. The standoff would last weeks, causing a humanitarian emergency and further demonstrating the government’s inability to exercise basic sovereign control over the country’s critical infrastructure.