Port-au-Prince remains under siege from armed gangs, who have launched a coordinated campaign to seize control of the city. On Sunday, May 4, mass protests erupted on the streets of the Haitian capital, demanding an end to the violence and calling for an urgent political transition and security reforms.
Days prior, on May 2, the US State Department announced that it was declaring Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
The Viv Ansanm coalition – which translates to “Living Together” in Haitian Creole – was formed in late 2023 as a strategic alliance of several of Haiti’s most powerful gangs. The coalition has been implicated in coordinated attacks on police stations, government facilities, and critical infrastructure, effectively paralyzing key sectors of the capital. Meanwhile, the Gran Grif gang, based in the Artibonite region, has long been known for its control of rural territory.
Announcing the designations, the US State Department wrote that these groups were the “primary source of instability and violence in Haiti” and are “a direct threat to US national security interests”. The State Department accused the groups of “attacking the people of Haiti, Haitian security forces, and Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission personnel”.
FTO designation
The US Secretary of State can designate groups and organizations as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)” based on criteria laid out in Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of the US. The stated purpose of the FTO designation is to be a tool in the “fight against terrorism” by “curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business.”
The designation has several legal ramifications such as barring group members or affiliates from entering the US, and enables the deportation of non-citizens accused of having ties to the organization. During Trump’s administration, there has been an expansion in the use of FTO designations on transnational criminal organizations such as Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Sinaloa Cartel, and now Viv Ansanm and the Gran Grif gang.
Once designated, it becomes a federal crime to knowingly provide the group with material support or resources. Financial institutions are required to block assets and report suspicious transactions.
Beyond its legal consequences, an FTO label carries significant political weight. It often serves to delegitimize the group internationally, isolate it, and justify future US actions, including military or diplomatic intervention.
With the FTO designation, the US claims to be cracking down on violence in Haiti – but in reality, the move may only further militarize the crisis. The Trump administration’s approach doesn’t address the deep political vacuum in the country or the role of the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC). On the ground, the Haitian people aren’t calling for more foreign intervention, they are demanding the resignation of interim Prime Minister Aliz Didier Fils-Aimé and the TPC, as well as urgent security reforms.
US role in the Haitian crisis
Announcing the designation of Haitian gangs as FTOs, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared, “the age of impunity for those supporting violence in Haiti is over.”
But the US’s own record tells a different story – one in which Washington has consistently enabled, armed, or propped up the very forces driving the violence in Haiti.
From the brutal US military occupation of Haiti (1915–1934), to Cold War-era support for dictators like François “Papa Doc” and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, Washington has repeatedly prioritized US economic interests over self-determination for Haitians.
This pattern has continued into the 21st century. The US is accused of having a hand in the overthrow of democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. The intervention replaced popular rule with foreign-backed transitional regimes that lacked legitimacy and further eroded public institutions.
The result is a Haiti where economic sovereignty has been systematically undermined, creating fertile ground for gang rule to flourish. Decades of neoliberal reforms imposed by the IMF and backed by the US have devastated Haiti’s ability to build resilient public services, while foreign NGOs and private interests have often supplanted state functions. The US has repeatedly pushed for elections and “stability” under conditions that benefit foreign capital and political elites, but not the Haitian people.
A country in crisis
Following numerous foreign interventions, Haiti has been teetering on the edge of collapse for years. Drowning in overlapping crises of governance, security, and economic despair since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, the country has failed to stabilize, with no elected national officials currently in office and the capital fragmented by gang rule. The constant crisis and lack of legitimate authority has created fertile ground for gang rule to flourish.
The United Nations estimates that by the end of 2024, gang violence caused the death of over 5,600 people and displaced more than one million across Haiti. Since January 2025, another 6,000 people have been forced from their homes in the capital alone, as brutal violence ranging from kidnappings to systematic sexual assaults continues.
Efforts to establish a transitional presidential council and appoint a new prime minister have so far stalled amid infighting and skepticism about foreign involvement. Many of the May 5 protesters demanded the resignation of interim Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, the fourth interim PM since Ariel Henry’s assassination, accusing the transitional authorities of lacking legitimacy and failing to protect the population.
The recent discontent comes nearly a year after the arrival of hundreds of Kenyan police officers as part of the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support Mission, authorized by the UN Security Council in October 2023. The mission has the mandate to help stabilize the country and combat the gangs which control significant parts of national territory, and support the Haitian National Police. However, the deployment has faced widespread criticism, with many seeing it as yet another US-backed foreign intervention but with an African face.
Amid clamors for peace and an end to the gang violence, many remain skeptical of foreign troops on Haitian soil given the outcome of previous interventions.
Stability and peace in Haiti, activists insist, cannot be achieved through foreign military occupations and interventions, but must start by supporting sovereign Haitian-led solutions, and redressing decades of economic and political sabotage.
