46-year-old Jimmy Cherizier grew up in the slums of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince while the country was still ruled by the brutal dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, better known as “Baby Doc”.
Cherizier’s father died when he was five years old, and his mother supported the eight children by selling grilled chicken on the street.
He himself claims that this is what gave him the nickname Barbecue, others claim that the explanation is far more brutal.
Massacres
As a young man, Cherizier got a job in the Unité Départementale pour le Maintien de l’Ordre (UDMO), the notorious riot police known for using brute force against protesters and others.
In November 2017, he took part in what became known as the Grande Marine massacre. The operation was aimed at criminal gangs and was planned in collaboration with the UN’s newly established police force in the country, but got completely out of control.
Nine students and teachers were killed when the police stormed a school, five of the victims were shot in the head at close range, and human rights organizations described it as pure liquidations.
Neither criminals nor weapons were found at the school.
Got fired
One year later, the riot police were on the move again and moved into the La Saline slum in Port-au-Prince. Who did what has never been determined with certainty, but 71 people were killed and 400 homes went up in flames.
According to the human rights organization Fondasyon Je Klere, corrupt police officers collaborated with a criminal gang during the action.
Some claim that it was there that Jimmy Cherizier was nicknamed Barbeque, and a few weeks later he was fired from the police.
Shortly after, he emerged as one of Haiti’s most powerful gang leaders.
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Sanctions
As the leader of the G9 family, an association of several criminal gangs, consisting of over 1,000 former police officers, security guards and street children, Cherizier is linked to everything from murder, drug trafficking, robbery and extortion to systematic rape and kidnapping.
The United States put him on a sanctions list in 2020, citing, among other things, the role he played during the La Saline massacre.
– The gangs took victims, including children, out of houses and liquidated them. They were then dragged out into the streets and set on fire, chopped into pieces and fed to animals, states the USA’s justification.
The UN also referred to the La Saline massacre when it placed Cherizier at the top of its sanctions list for Haiti two years later.
– He continues to threaten the peace, security and stability of Haiti, notes the expert committee that monitors the UN sanctions regime.
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Presidential assassination
Cherizier and the G9 family largely did as they pleased under President Jovenel Moïse and escaped prosecution.
Some claim that the president used Cherizier and his men to crack down on regime critics, which Moïse denied.
Just weeks before Moïse was killed in an assassination attempt in 2021, relations between the two had apparently soured, with Cherizier calling for the president’s resignation.
After the murder, he nevertheless led a large demonstration demanding that the culprits be held accountable.
Who gave the order for the assassination of Moïse has never been clarified, but suspicion has been directed at the man who took over as acting prime minister, Ariel Henry.
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Blocked port
Cherizier has helped to spread suspicion, and in 2022 the G9 family blockaded the country’s main port terminal for several weeks demanding Henry’s resignation.
After negotiations, the blockade was lifted, reportedly in return for a promise of amnesty for Cherizier and other gang members.
However, Cherizier and his criminal network continued their rampages in Port-au-Prince, fighting other gangs and taking control of large parts of the capital.
There is blood in the streets, the inhabitants are terrified to go outside and many Haitians are, according to the UN, on the brink of famine.
Threatening civil war
When Henry went on a state visit to Kenya in February, which is planned to contribute to an international police force in Haiti, the G9 family attacked the country’s two largest prisons. Prison guards and rivals were killed, and 4,000 inmates escaped.
The G9 family then took control of the Port-au-Prince airport to prevent Henry from returning.
Henry has since stayed in Puerto Rico and has promised to step down as soon as a transitional government is in place. If he does not keep his promise, Cherizier threatens full civil war.
– We must stand together. Either Haiti will be a paradise for all of us, or it will be a hell for all of us, he said recently in an interview, surrounded by masked and heavily armed gang members.
Revolutionary
In interviews, Cherizier portrays himself as a revolutionary, comparing himself to leaders such as Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela.
– Our fight is now in a new phase. We will govern the entire system, a system where 5 percent of the citizens control 95 percent of the country’s assets, he recently told Al Jazeera.
The gang leader assures that he has no desire to become president, but what future role he sees for himself is unclear.
– I am not a gangster, and I will never be a gangster, emphasizes Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier.
