the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Oct 13, 2025
This article is translated from the September 27, issue #1356 of Combat Ouvrier (Workers Fight), the paper of the Trotskyist group of that name active in Guadeloupe and Martinique, two islands that are French overseas departments in the Caribbean. It can be found at: combat-ouvrier.com
On September 11 and 12, in a town north of Port-au-Prince (Cabaret), members of the “Vlad” gang massacred more than 50 people, including women, children, and the elderly. This massacre occurred four days after the death of their leader, Vladimir, alias “Vlad,” during a confrontation with the police.
On the night of September 14–15, criminals from the armed group “Gran Grif” attacked a commune in the department of Artibonite (Liancourt). The population fled their homes to seek shelter. Despite resistance from local self-defense brigades, the bandits ended up setting fire to and demolishing the police station.
On Thursday, September 18, in a small town in the Northwest (Bassin Bleu), gangsters from “Kokorat San Ras” opened fire in the middle of the day, killing several people. The police station, town hall, hospital, and several buildings were set on fire, and they looted a local food depot.
The same gang attacked another town in Artiboniteon the night of Saturday, September 20 to Sunday, September 21. They set fire to several houses and slaughtered various animals, terrorizing the inhabitants. The toll was nine dead, many wounded, and several missing.
This gang has had a base in the area for more than three years and taunts the few police officers in the departments of Artibonite and the Northwest. Some residents are organizing to fight back, but so far, they have not had the necessary means to do so.
These attacks on rural areas are increasing and show that these gangs affiliated with “Viv Ansanm” gangs aim to control the entire country. After Port-au-Prince, Artibonite, and the Central Plateau, the Northwest is now the target of armed groups. The “liberation” of neighborhoods is nothing more than a charade.
The attacks confirm the Haitian state’s inability to contain the expansion of gangs, despite repeated announcements of crackdowns. Faced with these crimes, on September 15, the Transitional Presidential Council’s response was: “The criminals will not triumph.”
On Saturday, September 20, during the commemoration of the birth of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian government paid solemn tribute to the “Founding Father of the Nation” by bowing before “his immortal memory.” The ambassador of France, the former colonizing country, also paid tribute to his memory. The representative of the United States affirmed that “the future of Haiti belongs to the Haitians themselves.” These are all empty statements that the working population does not believe. It was the strength of the indigenous army, the former slaves in arms, that made it possible to stop the advance of the armed forces of the former colonizing country.
The government serves the Haitian bourgeoisie, which is complicit and uses gangs as its henchmen. Faced with them, the future belongs to the Haitian working class, capable of creating its own organization and its own army to defend its own interests.