Crime

Here is a street child in Haiti used by gang members as their informers to assassinate Police Officers.

Haiti has thousand of street children, mostly in Port-au-Prince and the other big cities. In Haiti, there are around 300,000 children that live as Restaveks and 75% of them are girls. Restaveks children are badly treated, often exploited and victims of sexual abuse. They live in unimaginable, unhygienic and precarious environment; seldom receive access to food and education. To stay alive, many of them beg, load buses, wash cars, while others for a better living and protection, join criminal gangs. There was a time when many street children were murdered by the Haitian police, death squads and the former Haitian military. There were certain groups of former military patrols in Port-au-Prince who used to kill street children "for sport." The number of street children in Haiti has increased five times since President Aristide was ousted. In a nation of 10 million, where poverty is common, one of eight children dies before the age of 5, orphanages often are the last refuge of hope-- it is no wonder that thousands of children have made the street their home. If any of them gets killed, no authority ever picks the body or investigates the crime.

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Here is a picture of former Tourism Minister Stéphanie Villedrouin as her family was the victim of an attempt of Kidnapping

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Robert Anglade, the owner of Hotel Jardins Sur Mer in the region Zanglais became the victim of a terrible crime. He was assassinated at his home on Thursday April 7, 2016, shot dead by an unknown individual.

These pictures are some spectacular views one can enjoy from the Hotel Jardins sur Merin Arquin. More than anything in the world, this location was considered to be a true paradize for Mr. Robert Anglad.

Before taking on his dream to open Hotel Jardins sur Mer, Robert Anglade was leaving in Canada. The hotel was reputable for offering a comfortable and relaxing atmospher to peole from all over the world. He was quite successful and contributed tremendously to the community of Zanglais d'Aquin. He was 74 years old

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Here are some picture of the massacre of La Scierie in the town of Saint-Marc.

A few days before the departure of Aristide on February 29, 2004 following a coup d'état, about 44 Lavalas opponents were killed. Seven people were arrested, including former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, former Deputy Amanus Mayette and former Interior Minister and present Provisional President Jocelerme Privert. Most people of St Marc, including the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR-Haiti) insisted that Prime Minister Neptune was responsible for the genocide. NCHR described that as-- "cruel, horrific, savage and barbaric" "crime against humanity"; it was "genocide. However, the former Prime Minister Neptune had objected to the term 'massacre', because he considered "that was a fight between two different sides. Ramicose, which was an organization close to the opposition, fought with Bale Wouze, which was a popular organization belonging to Lavalas." However, no sufficient evidence was found, none of the accused were convicted, nor even tried in connection with the La Scierie incident. In a recent interview on Radio Magic 9, the Provisional President Jocelerme Privert rejected every allegation when he was asked about his involvement in the massacre of La Scierie in Saint-Marc town.

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Here are two children in the back of a car of a gang leader in the slum of Cite Soleil. These children are heavily armed . This picture was taken from a video filmed in Haiti in 2004 before the departure of Former President Jean Bertrand Aristide to exile. He is part of the group known as Chimè Cite Soleil.

In 2004, the United Nations termed the slums of Port-au-Prince and Cité Soleil as "the most dangerous place on earth." The outstation of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004 left a large number of 9 mm weapons, 38's, American-style machine guns, M-14's and hand grenades in the hands of his supporters. As a consequence of this, regular exchange of ammunition among the gangs and with the UN peacekeeping force was a routine matter. Following Aristide's exit, one study found that about 8,000 people in Port-au-Prince alone were murdered and over 35,000 sexually assaulted. Cité Soleil is an extremely impoverished and densely populated commune within the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. The streets here are controlled by various gangs, some more violent than others. The gangs operate here like secret army. Even children here carry guns which are smuggled from the U.S and South America. They have grenade launchers, laser-guided rifles and sniper stuff; and even today, day by day, it is getting worse. It is a dangerous place on earth where the guns rule

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Here is a picture showing the status overcrowding at Haitian prisons.

As per MINUSTAH and the Institute for Criminal Policy Research statistics of December 2015, considering an estimated Haitian population of 10.78 million, prison population rate per 100,000 in the country is 102. Haiti has an official capacity of 2,431 inmates in its 17 prison systems; however, the number of 11,046 detainees translates the occupancy rate to 454.4%. The country boasts the worst overcrowding in the world. The prisoners rarely get any recreational time. They sleep, eat and live in about the space of one-quarter of a twin bed (0.4 square meter space) whereas the international recommended standard is 5.4 square meters of space. Some of the major reasons of overcrowding might be due to the snail-paced legal system, prolonged pre-trial detention (share of pre-trial detainees is 70.9% of the prison population), lack of qualified health personnel and insufficient budgetary allocations. Large numbers of the prison inmates spend more time in prison than the jail term they receive after trial.

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Here is a picture of Florence Laraque who was abducted and then released with broken leg.

As per the report of Gary Desrosiers, the Inspector and spokesman of the National Police of Haiti, on the night of Wednesday, February 24th, 2016, Florence Laraque was released from captivity by an operation conducted at the wharf of Jérémie by a team consisting several units of the National Police of Haiti. Jérémie is a neighborhood located in the north of the capital. Florence is the wife of the Haitian comedian, Ashley Laraque who is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Fusion party of Social Democrats Haitians.

She was abducted by gunmen who were traveling on the Highway Brothers in Petion-while in a vehicle in the evening of Tuesday, February 23, 2016. Florence Laraque works as an interior decorator. On the evening of February 23, she was waiting outside her house for the gate to open when she was picked up by those gunmen who abducted her and flew in a blue pathfinder with license plate AA 147- 218. The victim was found by the police with a broken leg, probably caused by the abuse of her abductors. As per the released report, no arrest was made during the operation. After her release, Florence was taken to a hospital for medical assessment. Recently, regular news of kidnappings for ransom is coming from different sources. Most of the kidnappings were works of professional gangs while some were planned and executed by people already known to the victims. We might remember that Haiti had successfully curbed its kidnapping rate in the early 2014 since the United Nations provided anti-kidnapping support led by Robert Arce, a veteran American cop and law enforcement consultant. However, the Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), Godson Orélus, has said, we will never allow the kidnapping to return to Haiti.

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Here is a picture of Police officer Placide Jean-Louis as he was killed in Champ de Mars.

On Wednesday, February 17, 2016, a Police officer named Placide Jean-Louis was killed with multiple bullet injuries. His body was found near the Museum of Haitian National Pantheon (MUPANAH) on the Champ de Mars. The police man was an Agent IV officer, working in Cite Soleil. According to Garry Desrosiers, the Principal Inspector and Deputy Spokesperson of the National Police of Haiti, the victim was returning from a commercial bank when he was shot several times by two unidentified gunmen who fled on a motorcycle.

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Haitian criminal can not be accused for lack of creativity. Here is an example where crime moves from seduction to Kidnapping,

Haitian kidnappers have innovated a new trick to deceive citizens for ransom. Some of their accomplices are girls, who seduce boys in the discotheques and propose them to go out with them. When the boys agree, the girls lead them to their accomplice kidnappers. Recently, on February 20, 2016, the Deputy Spokesman of National Police of Haiti Inspector Gary Desrosiers has alerted citizens to remain cautious of this new strategy used by the bandits of kidnapping rings. We might remember that Haiti successfully curbed its kidnapping rate in the early 2014 since the United Nations provided anti-kidnapping support led by Robert Arce, a veteran American cop and law enforcement consultant. Within a tight limited budget and a span of two years, Arce introduced cell phone log exploitation, community policing, and some cultural diplomacy to track criminals. Now, the criminals are innovating new ways to resurface again.

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Nearly 5000 Haitian criminals are being held in a building originally built in the 1930's and meant for only 1,500 inmates. The situation at Haiti's National Penitentiary is much the same in the country's other prisons. The overcrowding makes preserving order an uphill battle. A system of rotation allows officials to stop gangs from reforming within the walls, but the problem is exacerbated by delays in the judicial system. Many of the inmates are being held pending trials that may take many months to come.

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