The designation of the armed group Viv Ansanm as a terrorist organization by the United States marks a historic turning point in the Haitian crisis. It is no longer just a national security problem. It is a radical reclassification of the Haitian chaos: the country is now perceived as a terrorist operating ground in the Western Hemisphere. And the consequences, both visible and silent, will be relentless.
First, for Haiti, this designation accelerates its isolation. The world's perception changes. States will no longer treat this issue as mere local instability, but as a threat to regional security. The country's image darkens, closes in, becomes stigmatized. Diplomatic relations will be conditional. Financial, humanitarian, or cooperation flows will now pass through reinforced security filters. The country enters an era of global suspicion.
At the banking level, the Haitian system enters a red zone. Any local bank or microfinance institution suspected of facilitating gang transactions will fall under the scrutiny of the US Treasury and its partners. Money transfers from the diaspora, international wire transfers, currency movements, fictitious name accounts—everything will be scrutinized. And if Haitian institutions fail to prove their integrity, they could be disconnected from the international banking system, a financial sanction of catastrophic scale for an already struggling economy.
This designation also provides a legal basis for robust foreign actions. The United States, Canada, France, and other allies can now justify the use of drones, special forces, or even targeted strikes if gang leaders are classified as terrorist threats. The intervention of the multinational mission, led by Kenya, now takes on another dimension: it is no longer there to secure, but to dismantle a terrorist structure. International law authorizes the immediate neutralization of any group or individual linked to a terrorist organization. Haitian justice, powerless or corrupt, could be bypassed.
The Transitional Presidential Council, ministers, and high-ranking government officials must understand that they too are now under surveillance. Any active or passive complicity with Viv Ansanm can be qualified as collaboration with a terrorist organization. This means personal sanctions, asset seizures, visa blocks, and in some cases, international arrest warrants. Their already fragile power is now conditioned on immediate and visible action against the gangs. Otherwise, they will fall.
As for the oligarchs, those who finance, protect, or use gangs as armed proxies to defend their commercial or political interests, they are directly threatened. Their businesses, offshore accounts, and investments in Miami, Canada, and the Dominican Republic are now within reach of international financial intelligence services. Money from kidnapping, ransoms, drugs, or arms trafficking will be tracked. The reputation of these powerful figures, often untouchable in their own country, will be reduced to ashes on the world stage. They will be treated as logistical supporters of terrorism.
But the gangs themselves are not invincible. Behind their guns and arrogance, they are terribly vulnerable. Their strength depends on networks supplying weapons, money, fuel, and silence. All these networks will now be attacked. Their logistical bases, supply lines, and ammunition caches will become priority targets. Their international relations will be severed. They will not be able to flee: no refuge in the Dominican Republic, no protection in Miami, no exile in Latin America. Interpol will track them. They will be isolated like pariahs.
And above all, they are divided. Viv Ansanm is not a homogeneous movement. It is an assembly of rival groups united by money and fear. External pressure, internal betrayals, panic, hunger, and senseless deaths will eventually break their alliances. The history of armed groups has always proven this: the more light is shed on their crimes, the more their structures collapse.
The Haitian people, for their part, are beginning to rise up. Denunciation videos, cries in the streets, public prayers, manifestos on TikTok and WhatsApp form another front: that of popular consciousness. Even without weapons, the people can be a moral and political detonator. And this energy must be protected, channeled, and organized.
This message is finally addressed to all accomplices, visible or hidden. You who finance gangs under the guise of contracts, alms, 'negotiation,' or 'political strategy,' know that you are now considered accomplices to terrorism. You who turn a blind eye in institutions, who erase names, who block warrants, you are accomplices. You who use the press to whitewash criminals or to tarnish those who resist, you are accomplices. The world is watching you. It has evidence. And it will forget nothing.
The designation of Viv Ansanm as a terrorist group is a call for justice, not vengeance. It is a hand extended to the people, a slap for traitors, and a warning for those who believed they could ally with evil with impunity.
Haiti is on the brink of a renaissance or a total collapse. Those who choose justice will write a new page. Those who persist in the shadow of crime will be swept away, and their memory forever tarnished.
The moment of truth has arrived.
Port-au-Prince, May 2, 2025
Georges DUPERVAL
General Coordinator
BATON JENÈS LA