Haiti's gang war: Ariel Henry's resignation and the foreign police missions

The investigation of Moïse's assassination reached across the region. Jamaica arrested a Colombian suspect in October 2021 and a former Haitian senator, John Joel Joseph, in January 2022,^[14][15] and another suspect was extradited to the United States that month.^[16] In March 2023, Rodolphe Jaar became the first defendant convicted in the plot, pleading guilty in the United States to providing money and personnel,^[17] and Joseph pleaded guilty in Miami federal court that October.^[18]

Henry swore in a new Cabinet in November 2021, more than four months after taking office, as kidnappings and fuel shortages mounted.^[19] In January 2022, Prime Minister Ariel Henry's office said he had survived an assassination attempt.^[20] Days earlier he had fled gunfire in the northern city of Gonaïves on Haiti's independence day,^[21] and that month gang members killed two journalists outside the capital.^[22] That October the United States and Canada sent armored vehicles to Haiti's police.^[23] By December, gangs controlled about 60% of Port-au-Prince, the UN's aid chief said.^[1]

The United States wanted Kenya to lead a police force in Haiti,^[24] and in October 2023 the UN Security Council approved it,^[25] though a Kenyan court blocked the deployment in January 2024.^[26]

In March 2024, gangs tried to seize the main airport and overran Haiti's two largest prisons, freeing thousands, and the government declared a state of emergency.^[27][2][28] Henry said he would resign once a transitional council was created.^[29] Americans were evacuated, and more than 53,000 people fled the capital.^[30][31] Henry resigned in April, and the transitional council chose a new prime minister in May.^[3][32] Gang members killed an American missionary couple.^[33] The Kenya-led force arrived in June.^[4]

The council replaced the interim prime minister in November 2024.^[34] The main airport shut down temporarily after a Spirit Airlines flight was hit by gunfire, leading the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, to bar US airlines from flying to Haiti.^[35][36] A gang attack on journalists killed two that December,^[37] and in April 2025 the Trump administration told Congress it would designate the gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.^[5] In August 2026, an attack in Kenscoff killed at least 47 people and gangs kidnapped more than 50, according to the United Nations, and 13 captives were later released.^[38] In October, four soldiers from El Salvador went missing after a gang ambush, the first major attack since the international Gang Suppression Force began operations.^[39] El Salvador then sent special forces to Haiti to search for them.^[40] El Salvador's troop presence swelled as it searched for the missing soldiers,^[41] burned remains found in October were not theirs, its president said,^[42] and in November a powerful gang leader told the AP he had written to the UN seeking dialogue.^[43] In early November, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé praised Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele after Salvadoran troops destroyed a suspected gang leader's home,^[44] one of Haiti's most powerful gangs said it had reached out to the government agency responsible for disarming gangs,^[45] and Fils-Aimé planned a visit to El Salvador to discuss the future of its troops' offensive.^[46]