The United States announces criminal charges against the BBQ of the Haitian Band

US federal prosecutors have announced criminal accusations against Jimmy Cherizir, the leader of the Haitian band, known as Barbecue, who runs an alliance of bands that controls much of the Port-Preness Capitol.

The indictment alleges that the Cherizier, as well as the US citizen Bazile Richardson, at 48, requested funding from the Haitian Diaspora Community in the United States to help the band members buy firearms in violation of US sanctions.

G -n Cherizier, a former police officer in Haiti, leads the VIV Ansanm group (live together). The US is offering $ 5 million (£ 3.7 million) for information leading to its arrest.

The group has been charged with numerous killings, abductions and attacks against infrastructure.

“There is a good reason that there is a $ 5 million award for information leading to Cherizir’s arrest,” US lawyer Jeanin Piro said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“He is the leader of the gang responsible for the disgusting violations of human rights, including violence against US citizens in Haiti.”

Prosecutors say he is suspected of playing a key role in slaughtering La Solin in 2018, which killed 71 people, more than 400 houses were destroyed and at least seven women have raped.

Richardson, who was arrested in Texas last month, is a naturalized US citizen who grew up in Haiti, prosecutors say. He resided in North Carolina before being removed.

Also known as Fredo, Fred Leo, Leo Danger and Blod, he helped raise funds that are then used to pay for band leaders and buying a weapon, according to employees.

Both men have helped the “violent Cherizier criminal enterprise, leading to a Haiti security crisis,” said US Assistant Prosecutor John Eisenberg.

He added that the United States “would continue to pursue those who allow Haiti’s violence and instability.”

In May, US officials identified VIV ANSANM, which has controlled the capital since about 2020 as a foreign terrorist organization. Earlier this year, the group announced that it was being declared a political party.

In addition to the United States, Cherizier is also under sanctions by the United Nations, Canada and the United Kingdom, who accuse him of feeding violence in Haiti.

If arrested, he could be extradited to the United States. However, it remains in a position of considerable force on the street and is protected by members of its group.

In 2021, President Jonel Moes was killed by unidentified artillerymen in Port-O-Prem.

Since then, the country – the most overwhelming in America – has been covered by economic chaos, a little functioning political control and the increasingly vibrant gang of war.

The control of the gang in the port-O-Prince has led to an almost complete breakdown of the law and the order, the collapse of health services and the emergence of a crisis of food security.

In the last months, the UN has supported Kenya -led security forces have failed to take control of the Haiti capital.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in the country has sank at new levels. UN reports believe that 5.7 million people – more than half of Haiti’s population – face acute nutritional uncertainty and have over one million internally displaced people.