This is ‘Citie Soleil’ – Haiti’s most violent and rejected neighbourhood.It’s a place of rebellion, confusion and grinding poverty.Once the richest nation in the Caribbean, it’s now the poorest. Eighty percent of Haitians are out of work.
Hopeful and desperate for change the country is celebrating the election of their new President, Rene Preval - an ally of former dictator Aristide.Preval has now inherited what amounts to a failed state where kidnapping is now the only growth industry.It's the ‘kidnap capital of the world’, where abductions have now escalated to more than 160 a month. Human rights campaigners like Anne Sosin are overwhelmed. “In some war zones you find less violence than you find in Cite Soleil. Violence is very commonplace and it is not only men and armed gangs that are involved. The whole population becomes dragged into this situation. You see children that are armed. You see women that are forced in some way to participate in this type of violence.” The aggression is fuelled by racial tension. The black majority feel abandoned by the French speaking elite – with one percent of them controlling more than half of the country’s wealth. Rioting is an inevitable consequence.
“Cite Soleil's primary school lies at the heart of this festering slum where more than a thousand women have reported being raped in the last year. And all around us are the houses where dozens of kidnap victims are bought daily while the local residents are paid off to turn a blind eye."
Despite their dire poverty, eleven year old Lubeer and his seven siblings are making the best of life. (Up soft singing and clapping) Lubeer’s never met his father, is unlikely to go to school and lives in constant fear for his life. He’s grown up here where 300,000 people are crammed into just five square kilometres. Nothing works. It ground to a halt years ago - The water supply overflows with waste and sewage stagnates in the street. Each day Lubeer scratches a living selling fish. But for many, crime is the only way to make a living.
“A man was murdered here. He was riddled with bullets. They got a machete and chopped his head off. They poured petrol over the head and threw a match. Voossh”
Everyone’s a target. Danny, a wealthy trader is no exception.
Danny says – “Two guys came up with guns; they kidnapped me and my friend and there another group of guys came and they kidnapped me from my first kidnappers, they bought me somewhere - a bunch of little rooms, where there were a lot more people that were kidnapped. And they were a bunch of kids with guns”. After four days Danny’s family were forced to pay a hefty ransom. Danny says – “They paid 37 thousand dollars, US, which is lot money. I got released on my birthday. I prayed a lot, I never want to go through that again”.
It’s easy to spot the men responsible for the kidnappings, less easy to film them. This is Amoral – the godfather of the gangsters – filmed with a hidden camera.Upsoft Amoral.
“can we eat together”
Unsurprisingly Amoral turned down my generous offer of a free lunch.
But after some delicate negotiations I was introduced to a member of his gang who offered to be my guide – he had lost his leg in a turf war.
Through him I met another kidnapper - Ti Blanc who claims to be a freedom fighter battling for his people.Ti Blanc Says - “It’s a critical time for people in Cite Soleil. We’re responsible militants, the population supports us. We’re struggling to get the town out of this miserable situation. Things that you would see in a movie are a reality here”.
In a country so poor the economics of kidnapping have become irresistible with many gangs carrying out the dirty work of Haiti’s political factions.In fact it was President Preval’s local campaign manager who first introduced me to gang leader Amoral. It would seem Preval has the ability to turn the kidnappings on or off.
Victims agree that politicians are behind many of the kidnappings. One, a former public servant was too scared to show his face but blames the previous govt. “It is very well known that there are members of this interim government who have been very very steeply involved in kidnapping and other types of crime and who had gangs on their pay role – documents do exist to substantiate this. It is very well known that they have been involved in arming death squads”.
Whoever’s paying them, the gang members are clearly busy.The following day, amid the chaos of the city’s only hospital, I bump into Ti Blanc again.He’s keen to show me his gang’s battle wounds. Médecins Sans Frontières doctor Alessandra Oglino explains the grim reality of the situation.
“In November we received 34 wounded by gun shot, in December 80 and in January 103” I say – “even around the hospital were there were a lot of shootings?”
“Yes, on the 19th of January the paediatric ward was targeted by three bullets and we had to evacuate all the children.”
But the hospital director has his own ideas about who’s to blame for the violence.
Dr Saint Fleur – “I think the situation has got worse since the UN arrived. Around 50 percent of our gun shot patients have been shot by the UN. When the UN soldiers shoot they don’t aim at specific targets, they shoot indiscriminately, so children, women, elderly people become victims.”
Surprisingly, he points the finger at the 9,000 UN peacekeepers, who are supposed to be protecting the ordinary Haitians.
Dr Saint Fleur - “It is the impact of the bullet. I say – “This was a UN bullet.”Dr Saint Fleur - “Yes”
Some UN troops are accused of indiscriminate killing in the slums, and even of involvement in kidnappings. But it's hard to know whom to trust or what to believe in this place. When I turned to film a mother giving birth, the hospital director sneaked off to meet with the gang leaders. It seems no one escapes the grip of the gangs from the cradle to the grave. Even this birth wasn’t a happy occasion, as the mother was a victim of rape.
The people direct their anger at the UN’s Jordanian battalion, stationed at the centre of Citie Soleil. This woman lives close by and has often been caught in the cross fire.“This This This, Minister’”Minister means ‘United Nations’.They are regarded as trigger happy.Up soft – Minister, Minister, boom boom. Ti Blanc voices the people’s frustrations.
Ti Blanc - “For two years we’ve been under attack, they kill us every day and we’re unable to cope.”But the UN claims some Jordanian outposts have been hit by as many as 1,000 rounds a day – fired by gang members.
What’s clear is that despite using considerable force, the UN has not been able to clamp down on the kidnappers and thugs.
Adding to the chaos, the police openly admit that 25 percent of their force is involved in serious crime, including kidnapping, rape and killing.
Anne Sosin - “We have seen an increase in summary executions especially in poor neighbourhoods; we have seen an increase in violations directed against women by police officers so things are really quite bad”.
Police death squads have executed hundreds of civilians over the past two years.
Anyone with any money is a target.Quesnel Durosier, was snatched a week before his wedding.
“I was going to the bank to withdraw three thousand US dollars for our wedding. They grabbed me and forced a bag over my head and a gun to my side and face. At first I thought they must be the police as they were wearing security uniforms, but when I realised what was really happening I started thinking about my fiancée. I thought I would be executed.” Quesnel was forced to hand over the money but he escaped with his life after he told them it was for his mother’s funeral.
The justice system is little better, with many Haitians languishing in jails without charges or trials.
CLIP of prisoner –“I was taking a pee in front of Uni bank and the commissioner gets me in here since January 1st with a charge of trespassing. Since I have been here I have never seen my judge. I have never been to the court room, they have never got me questioned up stairs. I have been doing time for nothing”.
Not surprisingly the police have little respect in Cite Soleil and for two years have been driven out by the gangs who now command the streets.
“We are going to fuck this shit up. We are going to fucking burn this place... You know what I am saying”.
Haiti now has a new democratically elected government but few believe it will make much difference.Many here fear that President Preval’s grip on power is tenuous – that a return to anarchy is inevitable.The UN continues to issue assurances that peacekeepers are doing their best to impose order.But for the people of Cite Soleil – like Lubeer and his friends, the gangs remain….Alternating between predators and protectors…The gangsters remain the only real authority these children will ever see.