The emergence of coordinated action between previously rival gang networks in late 2021 was one of the most alarming security developments of the year, as criminal groups that had competed violently for territory began to align around shared political and criminal objectives in ways that would eventually coalesce into the Viv Ansanm coalition that would dominate Haiti’s security landscape for years to come.
The logic of gang coordination was both criminal and political. Criminal cooperation allowed gangs to control larger territories with reduced internal conflict, enabling more effective extortion, kidnapping, and control of key economic infrastructure. Political coordination allowed gangs to present a more unified front against the state and against any international security intervention, increasing their leverage in negotiations over the terms of any political settlement.
The pattern was deeply alarming to security analysts who had previously drawn some comfort from the competition between rival gang alliances as a factor that limited any single network’s power. A coordinated gang front controlling the majority of Port-au-Prince and key provincial territories would be an enormously powerful actor that even a well-resourced security intervention would struggle to dislodge.
Human rights organizations warned that the consolidation of gang power in Haiti had potential consequences that went beyond the country’s borders, creating conditions for increased drug trafficking, arms flows, and potentially migration crises that would affect the broader Caribbean and North America. The regional and international implications of Haiti’s gang governance were beginning to receive the attention they deserved.