Violent gang leader threatens Haiti’s lesbians
Gangs exert power as law and order crumble
A country under gang control
Lesbians and queer women in Haiti are living in fear after notorious gang leader Krisla, who is believed to be behind numerous heinous kidnappings, expressly threatened to target lesbian teenagers in the southern Port-au-Prince suburbs of Fontamara and Tibwa in a series of voice recordings on social media.
These threats have arrived in a deteriorated security situation amid gang rivalry in the capital, while the United Nations-funded police mission that was welcomed by Haitian authorities is struggling to restore order.
Krisla, whose full name is Caïd Christ-Roi Chéry, has been accused of playing a bloody role in a November 2018 gang attack in La Saline, a Port-au-Prince slum, in which at least 71 people were killed, 11 women were raped, and 150 homes were looted or destroyed, according to a report by American and Haitian human rights defenders.
“Over the course of 14 hours, the assailants systematically extracted victims, including children, from their homes and executed them at gunpoint and with machetes,” the report’s authors wrote. “Bodies were burned, dismembered, and disposed of in trash piles.”
Better known for their role in banditry, gang leaders seek to exert moral authority over the population and young people through terror. Taking advantage of the virality of social networks such as Whatsapp, Krisla’s recordings have included promises to ban signs and gestures of affection between young teenage girls in public, calling them “Madivine,” a derogatory Creole term for lesbians.
He also urges parents to socially repress the behavior of underage girls aged “13, 14, 15, 16, 17,” whom he deems immodest. He even invites them to “run after them,” to scare them away.
A ban on homosexuality under gang rule
Although homosexuality is not penalized in Haiti, Krisla says he would like to see it de facto outlawed in the areas under his control, especially if it involves female homosexuality. Moreover, he adds that girls need to be watched more than boys, in order to reinforce gender norms on them.
The situation is becoming increasingly concerning as several gangs have coalesced in a coordination group calling itself “Viv-Ansanm” (Creole for “Living Togther”), strengthening their power.
Edmide, an activist from the Haitian LBT advocacy group Facsdis, says “it is urgent from a humanitarian point of view to allow lesbian women to leave the country, if only on very short-term visas,” as the situation on the ground continues to be so worrying.
“Since the deployment of the police force with the Kenyan military, nothing has changed,” she says. “The gangs are increasingly using social networks” to consolidate their power over civilians in Haiti.
