Her money, her contacts with rival gangs, her political connections -- all may be to no avail. He says he can do little more for slum dwellers. No, he insists. There was nowhere to turn for help. They unload the truck into a house, a school, a party office. The youth pulls a wad of bills from his back pocket and gives some to Barbecue; he, in turn, hands the money to the woman of the house. He had complied with the rules. Suite #615 It came down to math: How much do we make? Government On 24 Mar 1976, Oswald Brandt passed away in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. And then there are the gangs. Again, no. Political use of gangs in Haiti dates back to the 1960s, when Francois Duvalier created the Tonton Macute, a civil force that spread terror in the population for decades. Critics claim that these notoriously wealthy families do not value democracy in politics or in economic matters. Should she fight back? Mevs is far from poor. }); Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Saleh has sent his wife and two kids to Santo Domingo, and wants to join them. Traditions, habits and the way we were James: The rich Haitian families basically run their own empires. You have partnerships with American businessmen, European businessmen that are very lucrative because you have a monopoly situation in Haiti. There are only a certain amount of players, and if you can provide something that no one else can provide, youre in. One would be interested to know why is the son of one of the richest families in Haiti is organizing kidnapping and terrorizing the expats who are trying to come back to to their home and help the struggling minority. Port-au-Prince Comment document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a42f3b77748873774bb5df5f49191d3f" );document.getElementById("c0d6c8bded").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Rodolphe Jaar, a convicted drug trafficker and former DEA informant linked to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Mose, was. corruption de Michel Joseph Martelly Inability to pay school tuition and family pressure to start earning income cause many children to drop out before secondary school. As Mevs traveled about Port-au-Prince, he bounced between eagerness to rebuild and despair over the devastation. He studied at the PotoMitan art school with Jean-Claude Tiga Garoute, Patrick Vilaire and Frido Casimir. I collaborated with them with food and some money on a regular basis., Saleh says he received a call from Merci Dieu, a member of Barbecue's gang coalition: We are going to block the area for a couple of days to ask for money from the government and trucks leaving the port, so come now and take whatever you need and then stay away for some days.. Story Years of dictatorship stifled any sense of civic duty, he said, but todays globalized economy means that entrepreneurs can no longer cling to colonial ways. In Haiti, there is no functioning government. No, he insists. Having lost their meal ticket, the government, the gangs have become independent predators. He is the founder of GB Group and Haiti's only billionaire. Tracy Wilkinson covers foreign affairs from the Los Angeles Times Washington, D.C., bureau. Can we afford it? The answer was no. Do you want to become one of them? They unload the truck into a house, a school, a party office. Their money is from commerce. So we pay the police, then sometimes we have to pay a gang because they can barricade the route., Later, she acknowledges that some businesses not hers decide to have their own gangs on payroll. In 2016 she met Youri Latortue, a veteran politician who was then president of the Senate. Walton: $224.5 billion 2. His children, who were at home when the quake hit, watched in horror as an exterior wall collapsed and crushed the family gardener to death. In Armani eyeglasses and Hugo Boss jeans, with a Mont Blanc pen in his shirt pocket, Mevs climbed into the armored SUV one day this week and escorted two reporters through some of the damaged parts of his empire. And sometimes, a payoff is not enough to guarantee protection. Gilbert Bigio is a retired Haitian businessman. They are simply one of Port-Au-Princes gangs. This story is part of a series, Haiti: Business, Politics and Gangs, produced with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Some have described Haitis earthquake as democratic because it afflicted poor and rich alike. Latortue asked her to help with a report about a corruption scheme during Michel Martellys administration. The ruling families don't want to share, the gangs don't want to obey the law and order, there isn't any law and order to begin with, and the citizens are basically stuck in the middle. There is no choice.. And sometimes, a payoff is not enough to guarantee protection. Few, if any, of their number died, but there were injuries and the loss of friends and employees. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Youri Mevs knew that While some turned to kidnapping, like those who captured 17 missionaries and their relatives, Barbecues men took control of the port district, gaining a stranglehold on the countrys economy. On a hot October morning, Barbecue receives reporters in his stronghold of Bellecour-Cit Soleil, a wretched neighborhood of tin shacks without water, electricity or any basic services. On a hot October morning, Barbecue -- the name comes from his mothers occupation, selling food at a street stall -- receives reporters in his stronghold of Bellecour-Cit Soleil, a wretched neighborhood of tin shacks without water, electricity or any basic services. Who would shoot? No one would shoot, Saleh said. He hobnobs with people like Bill Clinton, George Soros and the chief executives of the worlds largest corporations. 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Your support ensures great journalism and education on underreported and systemic global issues, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NW They charge you, one way or the other, for protection, but instead of protecting you against other gangs or even the police, they turn against you., Magalie Dresse lives in an elegant home in the heart of Port-au-Prince, with a well-tended garden where she does yoga in the morning. WebPurchase Manager at Inesdyc (2015present) Author has 70 answers and 24.4K answer views 3 y Wealthy family are 19, Vicini owned the sugar cane business and steal, rainiery owned the turism industry cap cana airports and electricista, and more, banks and beers business family len Jimnez, grupo ramos spermarkets and food chain industry. Barbecue fancies himself a man of the people and an enemy of the elite. He needed the Haitian prime ministers signature. We have to put an end to the system of dispossession.. Her office got the call one early morning in August. She wants her daughters to join those families moving abroad while the future of the country is settled. Why would they accept being used if they could manage the business? Handal asks. Then surrounded by a dozen young, hooded men armed and dressed in brightly colored T-shirts and sneakers, he walks to the perimeter wall that encloses Terminal Varreux, the port owned by the Mevs family. lamothe When Moise was assassinated, the gangs decided there was no need to serve as middlemen for politicians anymore. A statement by an expatriate journalist in Haiti who has studied these families closely reported, "In terms of assets, they are very, very, very rich - very rich. It is believed that the rich of his days worked together with the US government to bring a revolution in Haiti. But before they arrive at the port, they must pass through gang-controlled areas. Thats only a fraction of his financial losses, however. For 20 years, Giovanni Saleh, 44, rented a warehouse from the Mevs, halfway between Cit Soleil and the industrial park. No one would shoot, Saleh said. Web2021 Top 8 Richest People in Haiti and their Net Worth 8. She orders one of her managers to supply some of Barbecues rivals: Get them corn flakes, milk, pasta, tomato and soap. How much? What was the richest colony in the west indies and maybe in all of history? Two years later, he received a grant from the Rotary International Foundation and toured Haitis Group Study Exchange to give lectures on Haitian culture. The youth pulls a wad of bills from his back pocket and gives some to Barbecue; he, in turn, hands the money to the woman of the house. window.protag.cmd.push(function () { Saleh lost $3.5 million in goods over three days, as thousands of people directed by Barbecue and a colleague disassembled his warehouse box by box, bag by bag, shelf by shelf. He speaks blithely of a possible civil war of the poor against the rich and powerful foreign families who own Haiti. Even if so, Latortue cannot be tied publicly to the shipment. The two delivery men are tied to their phones, discussing the route. He was an enabling factor in the establishment of several things in Haiti. Youri Mevs may be making the same mistake I made. There was nowhere to turn for help. He had complied with the rules. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Youri Mevs knew that the call was coming, and she was terrfied. Gilbert Bigio, of one of the most famous Jewish families in Haiti, Bigio, and he owns his own port, Port Lafito, in the northern parts of Haiti. It is populism, but people are hungry. Nobody would do anything. And they want to put Barbecue behind bars. Having lost their meal ticket the government the gangs have become independent predators. Born on October 20, 1890, Oswals Brandt is son to John William Brandt and Esther Mathilda Becker. It was from Jimmy Cherizier -- aka Barbecue, a former policeman who leads the G9 gang coalition which controls the coastal strip of Port-au-Prince. He called police, called everyone he knew. I collaborated with them with food and some money on a regular basis., Saleh says he received a call from Merci Dieu, a member of Barbecues gang coalition: We are going to block the area for a couple of days to ask for money from the government and trucks leaving the port, so come now and take whatever you need and then stay away for some days.. Mevs days are filled with all that and more. And they want to put Barbecue behind bars. Mevs is a member of one of the richest families in Haiti; she owns Shodecosa, Haitis largest industrial park, which warehouses 93 percent of the nations imported food. Refuse, and Shodecosa would be ransacked, and the gangs also would block the roads around the port terminal owned by the Mevs family. Mevs is far from poor. They can open them, check if there is something they want or even set them on fire, she says. Some people could accuse me of giving them weapons because the place is at war, he explains. French conjugation He has been accused -- by the United Nations and other international organizations -- of participation in three massacres between 2018 and 2020. Barbecues extortion is brazen. Even if so, Latortue cannot be tied publicly to the shipment. Mevs is a member of one of the richest families in Haiti; she owns Shodecosa, Haitis largest industrial park, which warehouses 93 percent of the nations imported food. He got married to a woman by the name Therese Barthe who bore him six children. If you have $5 million worth of merchandise to unload and deliver, $50,000 (in bribes) is something you can deal with, says Geoffrey Handal, entrepreneur in the shipping industry and former president of the Franco-Haitian Chamber of Commerce. But in the meantime, Mevs has to deal with him. He denies it all, and has never been formally accused. But Barbecue and his gang are immensely powerful. It takes people with Mevs skills and wherewithal to get much of anything done in Haiti these days. Gouvernance Publique We have to rebuild. Latortue and Mevs have proposed a special police unit, trained by international experts, to fight the gangs. He says he wants to break with the Haitian tradition of strongmen and militias; that can only happen, he says, with a strong state, a strong public force, and institutions that guarantee the functioning of the state.. It is populism, but people are hungry. He oversees the off-loading of tons of Dutch aid. It makes the Bigio family wealth, at least partly hidden (202) 332-0982 Refuse, and Shodecosa would be ransacked, and the gangs also would block the roads around the port terminal owned by the Mevs family. 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Others have been able to accrue wealth through the industries and export-import businesses. If you have $5 million worth of merchandise to unload and deliver, $50,000 (in bribes) is something you can deal with, says Geoffrey Handal, entrepreneur in the shipping industry and former president of the Franco-Haitian Chamber of Commerce. Three neighboring warehouses were looted in June. WebHaiti got absolutely fucked by the French, then got basically looted by BAMBAM (not a hurricane, the 6 richest families) and now they're basically overrun by gangs. Clifford Brandt is the son of one of the most powerful families Oswan Brandt, One of the Richest families in Haiti. Can we afford it? The answer was no. He has taken out loans to reopen in the Mevs industrial park. The last day I went to the warehouse I was preparing the food I used to leave for the gang every two weeks -- cans of tomatoes, cartons of spaghetti, oil, beans, 20 sacks of rice. Haiti At one point, she says, weve had cash at home during the weekends in case a friend needed it for a ransom and banks were closed..
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