Major clashes between rival gang networks erupted in the Plain of the Cul-de-Sac area east of Port-au-Prince in April and May 2022, as the 400 Mawozo gang and the Chen Mechan network fought for control of territory and strategic corridors in one of the most intense periods of inter-gang warfare the capital region had experienced. Dozens of people were killed in the fighting, with civilians caught between armed factions that showed no regard for residential communities in their combat zones.
The Plain of the Cul-de-Sac, which connects Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic border, was strategically important to both gang networks for its role in controlling trade and migration routes. The territory generated significant criminal revenue through taxation of goods and people moving along the corridor, making it worth fighting for despite the costs of sustained armed conflict.
Communities caught in the fighting area experienced the full horror of gang warfare: residents trapped in homes while shootouts raged outside, families fleeing in whatever direction seemed safest, people killed while attempting to reach markets or medical facilities. Human rights organizations documented mass displacement from several communities in the affected area, with thousands of people abandoning their homes.
The Henry government condemned the violence but had no effective security response to offer. The police acknowledged they could not enter the most contested areas safely. International observers described the situation as an example of criminal organizations exercising territorial sovereignty in ways that the Haitian state was powerless to challenge, a pattern that was becoming increasingly common across the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.