Sawt Falasteen - US offers $5 mn reward for arrest of Haitian gang leader

Cherizier, 48, and another man, Bazile Richardson, have been indicted on charges of conspiring to transfer funds from the United States to fund gang activities in Haiti, the Justice Department said.

"There's a good reason that there's a $5 million reward for information leading to Cherizier's arrest," US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said at a press conference.

"He's a gang leader responsible for heinous human rights abuses, including violence against American citizens in Haiti."

Cherizier has been under US Treasury Department sanctions since 2020 and UN sanctions since 2022.

The former policeman heads an alliance of gangs in Haiti dubbed the "G9 Family," whose members are accused of murder, robbery, extortion, rape, targeted assassinations, drug trafficking and kidnappings.

The alliance participated in an organized assault last year that ultimately led to the resignation of prime minister Ariel Henry, who was replaced by a frail transitional council.

The Justice Department said that Cherizier and Richardson, a naturalized US citizen who was arrested in Texas last month, raised funds from members of the Haitian diaspora in the United States and had the money transferred to intermediaries in the Caribbean nation.

Cherizier allegedly used the funds to pay salaries to members of his gang and purchase firearms.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, with swaths of the country and the vast majority of the capital Port-au-Prince under the control of armed gangs.

Despite the deployment of a Kenyan-led multinational force to back up Haiti's police, violence has continued to soar.

At least 3,141 people have been killed in the first half of this year, according to figures released last month by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"Cherizier and (Richardson) sought to raise funds in the United States to bankroll Cherizier's violent criminal enterprise, which is driving a security crisis in Haiti," Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg said.

"The National Security Division does not tolerate criminal gang fundraising in the United States, and will continue to pursue those who enable Haiti's violence and instability."

A.AlHaj--SF-PST