A powerful alliance of armed gangs in Haiti that has plunged the country into violence and launched attacks against state institutions was designated on Friday by the Trump administration as a terrorist group.
The move is likely to worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis in Haiti, where gangs control much of the country’s economy, including key access and distribution points, including the main ports and major roads.
The coalition of gangs, called Viv Ansanm — which means Living Together, in Haitian Creole — emerged last year under a pledge to protect civilians, but then immediately banded together to attack communities, prisons, hospitals and police forces.
President Trump’s designation gives his administration broad power to impose economic penalties on the criminal group, and potentially even take military action. But it also allows sanctions to be imposed on anyone whom the United States accuses of doing business with the gang coalition.
If enforced, the move could end all trade with Haiti, experts say, since virtually no goods can move in or out of the capital, Port-au-Prince, without the payment of fees to the gangs.
“Humanitarian access programs would also likely cease,” Jake Johnston, a senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said in a post on social media. “Can’t enter a community to disperse aid without negotiations” with the gangs.
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