US and UN sanction former Haitian security head, gang leader for aiding
gang coalition
[October 18, 2025]
By EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and the United Nations slapped
sanctions on the former head of Haitian presidential security and the
leader of a Haitian gang on Friday for their roles in criminal gang
activities that have destabilized the impoverished Caribbean nation.
The U.S. Treasury Department said the two men supported a coalition of
gangs that the Trump administration designated as a foreign terrorist
organization earlier this year.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution hours later
ordering all 193 U.N. member nations to freeze the men's assets and
impose a travel ban. The resolution also imposes an arms embargo on
Haiti.
The sanctions were placed on Dimitri Herard, who was head of
presidential security when President Jovenal Moise was assassinated in
2021. He was imprisoned in connection with the assassination. After he
escaped from prison in 2024, he “colluded” with Haiti’s most powerful
gang coalition, Viv Ansanm, Treasury said in a statement.
Sanctions also were placed on Kempes Sanon, the head of the Bel Air
gang, one of the many criminal groups that make up Viv Ansanm’s gang
coalition. Besides helping the coalition consolidate power in Haiti,
Treasury and the U.N. accused Sanon of extortion, kidnapping, illicit
taxation and other human rights violations.
Gangs have grown in power since the assassination and now control 90% of
the capital, Port-au-Prince. They have expanded their activities,
including looting, kidnapping, sexual assaults and rape, into the
countryside. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime has reported that increasingly
sophisticated weapons are being trafficked into Haiti, mainly from the
United States and especially from Florida, contributing to the worsening
lawlessness.
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People walk past the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March
25, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)
The Security Council said Herard has been implicated in facilitating
the trafficking of arms and ammunition. U.S. officials said he
provided “training and firearms” to gang leaders, and “directly
backs the Viv Ansanm’s coordinated attacks against State
institutions.”
The U.N. resolution said Sanon had acted through his leadership of
the Bel Air gang, which has approximately 150 members and operates
from its stronghold in the capital's Bel Air area.
“Sanon also maintains a network of individuals within governmental
institutions, including security agencies, which enables him to
evade arrest and facilitate his criminal activities,” the resolution
said. “He escaped from prison in 2021, where he was incarcerated for
kidnapping, theft, and assassination, and has since continued to
destabilize Haiti through his actions.”
The Treasury Department sanctions freeze any assets they have in the
U.S. and block business transactions with the two men.
Bradley T. Smith, director of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets
Control, wrote in a statement: “Today’s action underscores the
critical role of gang leaders and facilitators like Herard and Sanon,
whose support enables Viv Ansanm’s campaign of violence, extortion,
and terrorism in Haiti.”
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