Videos that have been widely circulated on the internet recently showed Haitian gang leader Joseph Wilson naked and pleasantly showing off his .50-caliber ammunition belt, mockingly saying that he used armored bullets to tinker with his hair.
He joked, “We have enough combs to last for a year.”
Then how did he get it?
The guns were not produced in Haiti, and it was illegal to transport anyone there, but the gangs that scared the country's capital port ports and never seemed to have been missing them – or ammunition.
Experts estimate there are about 20 armed groups in Port-Au-oftince, some armed groups carrying AR-15 and Galil assault rifles, shotguns and Glock pistols. The United Nations estimates that between 270,000 and 500,000 guns are illegally recycled in Haiti, with most weapons in the hands of the gang.
Their excellent firepower overwhelmed the weak behavior of Haiti's well-equipped police, causing a staggering death toll last year, with more than 5,600 homicide victims, a jump of more than 1,000 from the previous year.
According to the United Nations, the United Nations imposed an arms embargo on Haiti three years ago, but most of the weapons on Haiti Street came from the United States, where they were purchased by straw buyers and smuggled into the country by sea or sometimes through land in the Dominican Republic.
The problem became so severe that the Haitian government restricted imports along the land border with the Dominican Republic. Only the original products were produced. Any product that does not originate from the Dominican Republic must be accessed through the harbours of Haiti.
As Haiti’s capital struggles with the violent crisis threatening its existence, questions about whether Haiti and other countries, including the United States, are working to control the weapons trend.
“If you stop the flow of guns and bullets, then these gangs end up running out of ammunition,” said Bill O'Neill, an expert on human rights in Haiti. “It's a faster, faster, safer way to remove them.”
Where does the weapon come from?
In short, Florida.
South Florida, including Port Miami and Fort Lauderdale, is the 90% of the illegal guns reported by the Caribbean Sea between 2016 and 2023, according to the UN Drugs and Crime Office.
Gangs sometimes obtain guns and ammunition by attacking police stations in Haiti or bribing local police to provide weapons. The United Nations said last week that nearly 1,000 shots have been diverted over the past four years, and police reportedly sold them on the black market.
But weapons are usually weapons that leave South Florida in transport containers and vans, hidden in tightly packed bikes, cars, electrical supplies, clothing and food.
UN officials and private security experts say that in recent months, traffickers have changed their tactics to avoid an increase in inspections of the Miami River, a five-mile waterway that runs through the city of Miami and has long been a hotbed of contraband.
The UN said in a recent report that smugglers expanded their operations to new routes between Florida and the Dominican Republic, including the Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, a large cruise ship and cargo facility.
Which guns are smuggling?
So far this year, Dominican officials have conducted two large-scale gun smugglings at the port of Haina near the capital Santo Domingo.
February, Dominican customs agents described them as the country's largest weapon to seize what was originally intended to be Haiti.
Nearly twenty fires, including the Barrett .50-caliber semi-automatic rifle and 15 AK-47-style assault rifles, and inside the container of the 35-year-old freighter, there are 36,000 rounds on the conventional route between Miami and the Dominican Republic.
Listed in the Act, the owner of the Miami company listed in the Dominican Republic was arrested.
Investigators say a second shipment from New York from New York in January at the same Dominican port occupation could also be tied to Haiti. The cargo includes 37 guns, and several Kalashnikov-style rifles, and the label shows that they were made in Vermont and Georgia.
In November, Dominican authorities arrested several Dominican police officers and were accused of smuggling nearly one million rounds of ammunition from police warehouses. Dominican court records show that at least one buyer is from Haiti.
Have the law enforcement agencies any success?
In response to a September letter from several members of Congress, they asked to do more to address weapons smuggled to Haiti to Haiti, the U.S. Department of Commerce is responsible for gun exports, and the company said in December that none of its 11 foreign export control officials were posted in the Caribbean due to lack of funds.
The agency still said nine Haiti-related investigations led to convictions during the Biden administration.
Recently, several Haitian weapons cases have been filed by other federal law enforcement agencies.
Last month, a 31-year-old police officer pleaded guilty to the purchase and reselling of at least 58 guns in St. Cloud, Florida, as part of the program, which sent hundreds of weapons to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Haiti.
In January, Ricardo Sune-Girón, a 34-year-old undocumented immigrant from Guatemala pleaded guilty to gun trafficking in Tampa. Under the plea agreement, Mr. Sune-Girón recruited straw buyers to illegally purchase 900 guns (including assault rifles) which he then transported from Florida to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The Haitian Police Chief’s former security officer was arrested in Florida in December after investigators linked him to nearly 90 guns.
How to solve the problem by law enforcement?
Haiti has few resources like scanners and border forces to address smuggled guns at its borders and ports, and experts say the U.S. has limited ability to search for exported goods at domestic ports and usually only performs random cargo inspections.
Ships sailing from the United States to Haiti are often clogged with a wide variety of cargo, from second-hand clothing to household appliances, bicycles and cars, making it easy to hide contraband.
In one case, the dismantled gun found on a freighter on the Miami River was hidden in a freighter in Haiti, hidden in shipments including tennis rackets, juice, rice and clothes.
“We show up,” said Anthony Hernandez, a special agent of Customs and Border Protection. “We will try as much as possible. ”
Haitian law enforcement did not respond to duplicate requests for comment.
What about the Dominican Republic?
In the Dominican Republic, the United States supports 30 special departments of local customs agents, and 20 local customs agents are currently reviewing work on cases related to the United States.
The Dominican Foreign Ministry said authorities have strengthened control measures, including the addition of eight new X-ray scanners at the main port where all the goods destined to Haiti were inspected.
Dominican customs officials have tracked all suspicious cargo to arrest and prosecute traffickers, a representative of the U.S. Embassy, who has no right to speak publicly, questioning whether the Dominican Republic is an important source of illegal firearms to Haiti.
Dominican customs authorities forwarded the issue to prosecutors, who declined to comment.
So how to stop it?
Critics say there is not enough time to regulate the U.S. selling weapons to straw buyers, an illegal practice where people buy guns on behalf of another person, including traffickers. This practice is responsible for the large number of arms used in crimes in Mexico and throughout Latin America.
Experts say dealers often ignore the easy-to-detection buying pattern of gun traffickers as legitimate customers and repeatedly buy multiple weapons.
“This is where you can stop this,” said Jonathan Lowy, founder of Global Gun Violence Operations. “Once guns are in the hands of traffickers, it's hard to stop. They can be broken down and put into boxes of breakfast cereals or juice.”
