Haiti: 177 Million Gourdes Disbursed in Months for Haitian National Police for Botched Operations

Despite the disbursement of over 177 million gourdes to fund anti-gang operations between June and August 2025, the Haitian National Police (PNH) is suffering heavy losses. The deadly attack on Tuesday, July 22, in Liancourt reignites questions about the effectiveness and transparency of these interventions. Blood has flowed again in Lower Artibonite. This Tuesday, July 22, 2025, the “Gran Grif” gang ambushed a patrol of the Departmental Law Enforcement Unit (UDMO) in the commune of Liancourt. The toll: at least two police officers killed, another missing, two armed civilians shot dead, and an armored vehicle of the PNH set on fire. Among the victims are officers Jean Louis Daniel and Dareus Daniel, members of the UDMO, coldly shot dead by the assailants. Police officer Mertus Fegensly is still missing, according to the deputy spokesperson for the PNH, Lionel Lazarre. Unbearable images circulated on social media show the armored vehicle on fire and lifeless bodies lying on the ground, dragged and humiliated. This attack occurs as the Ministry of Economy and Finance, according to a source, authorized a disbursement of 177 million 130 thousand gourdes to fund PNH anti-gang operations between June and August 2025. Of this envelope, 35 million gourdes were specifically allocated to the Artibonite department, where the security situation continues to deteriorate. Since Rameau Normil's appointment as head of the institution, more than a dozen armored vehicles have been set on fire in often poorly prepared operations, and several are now in the hands of gangs. Faced with these repeated failures, an urgent question arises: what else does the PNH need to conduct large-scale operations and contain the violence? While millions are injected into security, gangs strengthen their control over the territory, the State remains silent, and law enforcement officers fall one after another into predictable ambushes. Meanwhile, Artibonite, the country's agricultural heart, sinks deeper into chaos and abandonment each day. Like this region, the entire country is unfortunately sinking to the bottom of the abyss. 1.3 million displaced people, 5.7 million in food insecurity, rapes, looting, fires—everything is gravely multiplying. The Editorial Board