US designates two powerful Haitian gangs as terrorist groups

Source: The Guardian

US designates two powerful Haitian gangs as terrorist groups

Rubio calls Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif ‘threat to US national security’ and says support for groups could lead to charges

Guardian staff and agencies
Fri 2 May 2025 19.57 BST
Last modified on Fri 2 May 2025 20.52 BST

The United States has designated a powerful Haitian gang alliance, whose members have taken control of almost all the capital city as a “transnational terrorist group”.

The criminal coalition known as Viv Ansanm (Live Together), and another faction, the Gran Grif gang, which in October took responsibility for a shocking massacre of at least 115 people in the agricultural town of Pont-Sondé, were both covered by the move on Friday.

“They are a direct threat to US national security interests in our region,” the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said in a statement, adding that providing material support or resources to the gangs could lead to “criminal charges and inadmissibility or removal from the United States”.

The conflict in Haiti has been met with little international response, while neighboring countries, including the US, have continued to deport migrants back to the Caribbean country despite United Nations pleas not to due to humanitarian concerns.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/02/haiti-gangs-terrorist-groups-us