The U.S. government has announced a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Jimmy Cherizier, the notorious Haitian gang leader known as “Barbecue.” On August 12, 2025, a federal grand jury in Washington indicted him on charges of conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions and funnel money into gang activities in Haiti.
According to prosecutors, Chérizier and co-conspirator Bazile Richardson raised funds from members of the Haitian diaspora in the United States beginning in December 2020 to pay gang salaries and purchase firearms. Despite U.S. sanctions already imposed on him that year for human rights abuses, and the May 2025 designation of his coalition, Viv Ansanm, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, he still managed to receive small financial transfers from a Haitian American in North Carolina. These added up to just under $40,000, but they violated U.S. law.
Many observers, however, view the indictment and bounty as largely symbolic. Similar U.S. rewards for Haitian gang leaders have failed in the past, and critics argue that without greater material support and coordination for Haiti’s national police, Washington’s actions are unlikely to bring results. Chérizier himself has remained defiant, insisting in a video message that he is willing to cooperate with the FBI, so long as “no lies” are told.
Cherizier, born March 30, 1977, is a former officer in the Haitian National Police who served in the Unité Départementale pour le Maintien de l’Ordre (UDMO), a special police unit, before being dismissed in 2018. His nickname, “Barbecue,” reportedly comes from his mother’s fried chicken business, though some allege it refers to atrocities committed during massacres, an accusation he denies.
After his dismissal, Cherizier rose to lead the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies, later forming the “Viv Ansanm” coalition, an umbrella group of more than a dozen gangs in Port-au-Prince. He has been accused of orchestrating violent attacks, most notably the La Saline massacre in 2018, which left at least 71 people dead, more than 400 homes destroyed, and several women raped.
Despite being wanted by authorities, Cherizier has remained at large and continues to appear openly in media interviews, framing himself as a revolutionary battling Haiti’s corrupt elites. In a recent video statement responding to the U.S. charges, he defiantly declared, “My name is Jimmy Chérizier, BBQ. If the FBI wants me, I’m here.”
With no extradition treaty between Haiti and the United States, however, questions remain over how, or if, he could ever be brought to trial.
In 2020, Jimmy Chérizier united nine criminal factions in Port-au-Prince to form the G9 gang alliance. He later brokered a truce with rival groups, creating the broader coalition “Viv Ansanm” (Living Together), which now controls much of the capital. He is credited with persuading Haiti’s gangs to stop fighting each other and instead turn their weapons on the government.
Under his leadership, the coalition toppled the Haitian government, shutting down airports, setting up roadblocks, kidnapping for ransom, and displacing more than a million people. The United Nations estimates over 3,100 people were killed in the first half of this year alone. In early 2024, his forces forced Prime Minister Ariel Henry to step down.
As recently as August 2025, Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier threatened to overthrow Haiti’s transitional government, demanding that residents grant his fighters free passage to reach government offices. Hours before Haiti’s new leadership was sworn in on August 7, he released a video in which he appeared with an automatic rifle and bulletproof vest, warning, “People of Haiti, take care of yourselves and help us … in the battle to free the country.” He vowed to march on the premier’s office and the Villa d’Accueil “to end it all.”
That same day, Laurent Saint-Cyr, a wealthy businessman and longtime insurance executive, was inaugurated as president of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council (TPC), replacing Fritz Alphonse Jean in the rotating presidency. His appointment, alongside Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, marked the first time private-sector figures have held both top executive posts simultaneously. Saint-Cyr has previously led the American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti and the national Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and he currently serves as the inaugural Yale Peace Fellow at the Jackson School’s International Leadership Center.
The ceremony, held in heavily guarded Port-au-Prince where gangs control 90% of neighborhoods, underscored the precarious state of the country. Armed gangs launched attacks on roads leading to government headquarters in response to Chérizier’s threats, leaving at least one person dead and another injured. U.N.-backed Kenyan police reported fending off coordinated assaults with Molotov cocktails and ambushes, though the multinational mission remains understaffed, with under 1,000 officers, less than half the number envisioned, and no air support.
In his inaugural address, Saint-Cyr declared, “Our country is going through one of the greatest crises in all its history. It’s not the time for beautiful speeches. It’s time to act.”
He pledged to restore state authority and called security his top priority, urging both Haiti’s armed forces and international partners to expand operations, send more soldiers, and provide badly needed training and resources. His presidency is scheduled to last until February 7, 2026, when elections are meant to install a new president, though it remains unclear whether voting can take place under the current security conditions.
Public reaction to Saint-Cyr’s leadership has been deeply divided. Supporters rallied outside the council’s office in celebration, but critics denounced the dominance of Haiti’s lighter-skinned elite.
Both Saint-Cyr and Fils-Aimé are from the country’s small mixed-race minority, warning that power is again concentrated in the hands of the wealthy few. The council also faces credibility issues after corruption scandals revealed that its nine members each cost the state $924,000 annually, while average monthly salaries for workers remain between $150 and $200.
Haiti’s transitional government remains extremely fragile, and civilians are bearing the brunt of the crisis. Since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, more than 1.3 million people have been displaced and over 8,700 killed, including 1,500 in just the past few months.
The U.N. mission has warned that partisan infighting within the council has paralyzed the government, emboldening gangs that continue kidnappings, killings, and territorial expansion across the country.
President Trump restricted Haitian entry by fully suspending visas for Haitian nationals in June 2025, terminating the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) humanitarian parole program and shutting down the CBP One pathway on Inauguration Day, and moving to end Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS), though that termination has been blocked by a federal court until at least February 2026. Asylum, refugee, withholding, and CAT protections remain available for Haitians who reach U.S. jurisdiction.
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