US and UN sanction former Haitian security head, gang leader for aiding gang coalition

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and the United Nations slapped sanctions on the former head of Haitian presidential security and the leader of a Haitian gang on Friday for their roles in criminal gang activities that have destabilized the impoverished Caribbean nation.

The U.S. Treasury Department said the two men supported a coalition of gangs that the Trump administration designated as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution hours later ordering all 193 U.N. member nations to freeze the men's assets and impose a travel ban. The resolution also imposes an arms embargo on Haiti.

The sanctions were placed on Dimitri Herard, who was head of presidential security when President Jovenal Moise was assassinated in 2021. He was imprisoned in connection with the assassination. After he escaped from prison in 2024, he “colluded” with Haiti’s most powerful gang coalition, Viv Ansanm, Treasury said in a statement.

Sanctions also were placed on Kempes Sanon, the head of the Bel Air gang, one of the many criminal groups that make up Viv Ansanm’s gang coalition. Besides helping the coalition consolidate power in Haiti, Treasury and the U.N. accused Sanon of extortion, kidnapping, illicit taxation and other human rights violations.

Gangs have grown in power since the assassination and now control 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince. They have expanded their activities, including looting, kidnapping, sexual assaults and rape, into the countryside. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime has reported that increasingly sophisticated weapons are being trafficked into Haiti, mainly from the United States and especially from Florida, contributing to the worsening lawlessness.

The Security Council said Herard has been implicated in facilitating the trafficking of arms and ammunition. U.S. officials said he provided “training and firearms” to gang leaders, and “directly backs the Viv Ansanm’s coordinated attacks against State institutions.”

The U.N. resolution said Sanon had acted through his leadership of the Bel Air gang, which has approximately 150 members and operates from its stronghold in the capital's Bel Air area.

“Sanon also maintains a network of individuals within governmental institutions, including security agencies, which enables him to evade arrest and facilitate his criminal activities,” the resolution said. “He escaped from prison in 2021, where he was incarcerated for kidnapping, theft, and assassination, and has since continued to destabilize Haiti through his actions.”

The Treasury Department sanctions freeze any assets they have in the U.S. and block business transactions with the two men.

Bradley T. Smith, director of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, wrote in a statement: “Today’s action underscores the critical role of gang leaders and facilitators like Herard and Sanon, whose support enables Viv Ansanm’s campaign of violence, extortion, and terrorism in Haiti.”