US ambassador Mike Waltz vows to stop Haiti gangs profiting from social media

The United States ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday that the US Government will shortly take steps to stop violent gangs in Haiti from profiting through social media posts.

Gang leaders in the troubled Caribbean nation regularly use social platforms, where they have celebrated killings, issued threats and posted their own commentary across multiple services.

Younger gang members also upload videos and flaunt the money they make, in an effort to draw children into their ranks in the impoverished country.

Mike Waltz on stopping Haiti gangs profiting from social media

Ambassador Mike Waltz, who recently visited Haiti, described the practice as "incredibly disturbing" and warned that the United States "will put an end to it" soon.

He did not provide further details while addressing a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.

Wider US and international response at the UN Security Council

Waltz’s remarks come as the United States prepares to revoke Temporary Protected Status for around 350,000 Haitians living in the country, exposing them to deportation-an approach that has been widely criticised by lawyers and human-rights specialists.

Efforts to curb gangs’ use of social media are not new. In 2023, YouTube banned Johnson André-seen as the leader of Haiti’s most powerful gang and also known as Izo-after strong criticism that he had been given an award for passing 100,000 subscribers.

The US envoy also urged countries with airlift capacity to help transport foreign troops for the latest UN-backed mission in Haiti aimed at tackling gangs, directing particular appeals to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Côte d’Ivoire.

Waltz said Haiti needs equipment, including heavy tractors, to clear streets and checkpoints under gang control. He added that armed groups have taken over roads, ports, hospitals, prisons and other state infrastructure.

"Haiti is only a few hundred kilometres from Florida," he reminded the Council.

"In that sense, it is of crucial interest to the United States," the ambassador stressed.

Waltz also described a recent incident in which gangs surrounded an armoured vehicle that had become stuck in a ditch and set it alight, forcing Haitian police officers to flee.

"The Haitian police officers inside were forced to make a brutal choice: be burned alive or leave the safety of the armoured vehicle. Obviously, they chose the second option. They were flayed alive in the streets, pinned beside the burning armoured vehicle, as a form of intimidation," he said.

"I want everyone to understand the fight we have ahead of us," he added.

Violence, displacement and children caught up in Haiti’s gang crisis

Gang violence has driven a record level of displacement-almost 1.5 million people-in Haiti, where more than half of the country’s nearly 12 million residents need humanitarian assistance.

According to the UN, more than 2,300 people have been killed and more than 1,100 injured since January.

Earlier this year, clashes in the Cité Soleil shantytown in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, left 542 dead and 355 wounded.

In addition, the UN found that at least 176 women and girls were raped.

The UN estimates that gangs control 70% of Port-au-Prince, and that around half of members in these criminal groups are children.

Poverty and hunger are also worsening.

"The situation of children in Haiti is among the most alarming in the world," said Vanessa Frazier, the UN’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, at the same meeting.

"Children are being killed, maimed, kidnapped, recruited and used by armed gangs, displaced from their homes, denied access to education and denied basic protection and legal identity," she reported.

Jack Christofides, the Special Representative of the UN-backed anti-gang force operating in Haiti, said the force has set up its headquarters, deployed its first forward operating base and has recently begun clamping down on gangs’ infrastructure.

"The political and humanitarian environment, however, remains extremely challenging," he said, adding: "It is likely that armed groups will adapt their tactics to maintain control."