Haiti is on fire – and a man who calls himself “Barbecue” is among the arsonists. After the powerful gangs have brought the last remnants of the government to its knees, Jimmy Chérizier presents himself as a freedom fighter. What threatens the desperately poor Caribbean state under him?
It’s a country that could have been a paradise – now it’s like hell on earth. It’s not just yesterday that Haiti has been a sad example of a “failed state”. While until a few weeks ago the catastrophically understaffed security forces were able to maintain at least an illusion of lawfulness, an illusion of being able to put a stop to organized crime, the last remnants of the rule of law have now crumbled away: burning shops and police stations, stormed prisons, a besieged airport , a head of government who throws in the towel and doesn’t dare go home.