Gangs in Haiti are raping, burning, and murdering people with growing ferocity as a flood of US guns and arms is being sent to violent militias across the Caribbean island. The seriousness of the situation was starkly illustrated earlier this year, when members of Viv Ansanm — a coalition of Haiti’s most brutal gangs — launched a savage attack on the packed Delmas 30 neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince at 5am on Tuesday, February 25.

Gunfire rang out as they wielded assault rifles, handguns, and machetes, looting homes and setting them ablaze. Some victims were burned alive in front of their children, women were raped and two off-duty soldier brothers were killed. Johnise Grisaule and her three-year-old son fled the carnage and now shelter in a clinic turned refugee camp, alongside more than 4,800 displaced neighbours.

She told the Financial Times: “The police couldn’t do anything. There were so many more bandits with much bigger guns.”

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, has spiraled into political, economic, and security collapse since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July 2021. Today, gangs control roughly 90% of Port-au-Prince, surrounding the transitional government’s last holdout in Pétion-Ville.

Basic services — healthcare, electricity, rubbish collection — have all but collapsed. Gangs control the ports and all roads into the capital, extorting fees on goods. Residents trapped inside so-called safe zones live amid bullet-riddled, burned-out buildings.

Haiti’s finance minister Alfred Métellus warned: “Things will only get worse. There is a real risk that Port-au-Prince will fall to the gangs, granting them political power across the country.”

Outside the capital, violence is spiraling. Last year, Haiti recorded 5,626 murders — 1,000 more than in 2023.

The UN reports 2,700 killings in the first five months of 2025 alone. More than 1.3 million people have been displaced, with nearly half the population facing food shortages.

A major driver of this violence is the gangs’ growing arsenal of military-grade weapons, many sourced from US gun shops and trafficked through Miami.

Métellus said: “The problem is that in the USA, anyone can buy a weapon. Then they are shipped in [cargo] boxes from the Miami River.”

The gangs’ origins stretch back decades to the paramilitary Tonton Macoutes under the Duvalier dictatorships. But their current dominance is linked to the power vacuum created after 2021. Viv Ansanm formed in early 2024, uniting rival gangs into a coalition bent on toppling Haiti’s transitional government.

Fritz Jean, chair of the transitional presidential council, described it as “a coalition of interest groups that has constructed the chaos we’re living through.”

Analyst Diego Da Rin said: “Viv Ansanm aims to reach the offices of the prime minister and the presidential council and topple the government, without offering a clear plan for what would follow.”

The gangs now operate like paramilitary militias, heavily armed with AR-15s, sniper rifles, and body armour. Videos on social media show them flaunting SUVs in camouflage and military gear.

Robert Muggah of the Igarapé Institute explained: “Even around 100 high-powered guns drastically increase the gangs’ firepower.”

US court documents and shipping records reveal how these weapons get to Haiti. In February, a 90m cargo ship from Miami to the Dominican Republic carried a container filled with second-hand goods but also a cache of guns headed for Haiti.

Haitian authorities seized over 112,000 firearms and ammunition units at the Dominican port in early 2022 — most shipped from Miami.

Between July 2020 and March 2023, at least 34 shipments went from US ports to Haitian individuals now on sanctions lists, including a former MP accused of arming gangs.

Evan Ellis, US Army War College professor, said: “73% of guns recovered in Caribbean crimes come from the US, mostly Florida, Georgia, and Texas.” Haiti’s gangs also get body armour and equipment from China.

Miami is the main hub for trafficking weapons to Haiti due to its large Haitian diaspora, lax gun laws, and export businesses sending goods home.

Florida allows unlimited gun purchases without permits or background checks for concealed weapons. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, South Florida congresswoman, said: “Maybe 80 to 85% of the guns in Haiti come from the US — and directly from the Miami River.”

Joseph Lestrange, a former US Homeland Security official, explained: “Gangs use ‘straw buyers’ with clean records to buy guns legally in Florida. These are then shipped to Haiti, hidden among legitimate goods.”

One notorious case involved 400 Mawozo gang leader Joly Germine, who from jail coordinated gun purchases via WhatsApp. Florida buyers acquired 24 military-style rifles, including Barrett .50 calibre sniper rifles, hidden in barrels and shipped to Haiti. The money came from kidnappings of Americans, ransomed for tens of thousands of dollars.

Germine pleaded guilty in 2024 to gun trafficking and hostage-taking charges.

A small Miami pawnshop, Lucky Pawn, was one source of guns, though its employee downplayed the flow, dismissing it as insignificant compared to US military aid to Israel.

Freight forwarding companies unwittingly facilitate shipments by packaging and consolidating cargo, unable to inspect all containers for hidden weapons.

A container seized in the Dominican Republic contained 26 firearms hidden among household goods. A customs officer was arrested for complicity.

US Customs agents check less than 5% of exports. Exports under $2,500 usually require no paperwork, creating huge loopholes.

Haiti’s gang crisis is fuelled by this flood of weapons from the US, empowering violent militias that cripple the country’s government and terrorise its people.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) currently advises against all travel to Haiti due to an extremely volatile security situation marked by widespread gang violence, kidnappings, armed robbery, and civil unrest.

British visitors may find that travel insurance is invalidated if they go against this advice, and consular support is severely limited—British nationals cannot expect in‑person assistance on the ground in Haiti, and must rely on the UK diplomatic mission in the Dominican Republic if needed