Overview:
Haitian gangs under the Viv Ansanm coalition generate an estimated $60–75 million annually through extortion, primarily by charging illegal tolls on national roads and extracting fees from cargo entering the country via the Dominican Republic, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group. Despite government attempts to cut off this revenue, gang control continues to spread, fueling insecurity, mass displacement and school closures.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti’s Viv Ansanm gang coalition, labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, generates an estimated $60 to $75 million a year by extorting cargo shipments from the Dominican Republic and charging illegal tolls on roads and ports, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group.
The report, published this week, “Undoing Haiti’s Deadly Gang Alliance,” details how gangs have diversified their funding sources, allowing them to operate independently of political and economic patrons while expanding their territorial control.
According to the report, gangs levy illegal fees on cargo entering Haiti from the Dominican Republic, charging up to $2,000 per container. Haitian Economy and Finance Minister Alfred Métellus said the scheme affects roughly 3,000 containers per month, generating tens of millions of dollars annually.
“These resources make the gangs autonomous and allow them to acquire weapons, ammunition, and personnel. The goal is to cut off the flow of resources going to them.”
Alfred Métellus, Haiti’s economy and finance minister
“These resources make the gangs autonomous and independent,” Métellus told Le Nouvelliste earlier this year, after the government temporarily banned overland imports from the Dominican Republic in an effort to disrupt gang financing.
“They allow them to acquire weapons, ammunition and even personnel. The goal is to cut off the flow of resources going to them.”
The ICG report, based on over 300 interviews conducted between February 2022 and November 2025, notes that container extortion is only one part of a broader criminal economy that includes illegal tolls on national roads, kidnappings, illicit trafficking and maritime theft.
Gangs diversify their income streams to buy weapons, according to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Gangs have established checkpoints across Port-au-Prince and along national highways, charging drivers about $1,500 per truck per month to use certain routes, with an additional $190 fee per trip from regional ports, the report says.
Pedestrians, commuters and even schoolchildren are often forced to pay to pass through gang-controlled areas.
“These various tolls have led to a significant increase in the cost of goods transported by land,” ICG analysts said. “Communities that try to avoid paying face violent reprisals.”
From political and economic tools to autonomous armed groups
The report traces the gangs’ evolution from groups once mobilized by political and business elites into self-directed armed actors with independent revenue streams.
Since forming the Viv Ansanm coalition in 2023 — an alliance of previously rival groups including G9 an Fanmi and Gpèp — gangs have consolidated power, expanded into areas such as Kenscoff, Mirebalais, Saut-d’Eau, La Chapelle and other parts of the lower Artibonite, and diversified into drug and arms trafficking.
The ICG links this consolidation to a dramatic deterioration in security nationwide—a heavy human toll of gang expansion.
Since 2022, gang violence has killed more than 16,000 people, with over 5,600 homicides recorded in 2024 alone, confirming figures previously reported by other organizations. More than 1.4 million people have been displaced, and at least 1,600 schools have closed.
Children are increasingly recruited into gangs, accounting for an estimated 70% of 12,000-20,000 members in 2024, the ICG said.
“These various tolls have led to a sharp rise in transport costs, and communities that refuse to pay face violent reprisals.”
International Crisis Group
Although the exact number of gang members in Haiti is unknown, it greatly exceeds the number of Haitian National Police (PNH) officers.
“Haitian gangs have mutated from being tools in the hands of the most powerful to overlords of the country,” said Diego Da Rin, the Crisis Group’s Haiti analyst. “While they continue to profit at the expense of Haitians, they are attempting to rebrand themselves as defenders of the poorest.”
By using this populist rhetoric—portraying themselves as a “savior” to a population they continue to terrorize, the ICG Haiti analyst said— the gang leaders aim to seek political influence and amnesty for their atrocious crimes.
Viv Ansanm gang frames itself as a movement for justice, but report says it seeks influence, talks and amnesty
Limits of military responses and recommendations
Haitian authorities have introduced new tactics, including armed drone strikes, but the report says these efforts have failed to reclaim territory or dismantle gang networks due to poor coordination and weak institutions.
Residents say they are traumatized after explosions killed children and other civilians in the gang-controlled area
As the international community replaces the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission (MSS) with the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) — composed mainly of military personnel — ICG experts warn that a military-only approach risks high civilian casualties and could further entrench gang control.
Instead, the conflict prevention group calls for a strategy combining security operations with demobilization, accountability, and efforts to cut off political and financial support.
“Military superiority over the gangs would be a major step,” said Da Rin. “But without dismantling them, halting recruitment, and cutting ties to power, it would only provide a temporary pause in the conflict.”
On Aug. 28, 2025, residents cautiously returned to Delmas 30 and other Port-au-Prince neighborhoods after the withdrawal of the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, only to find their communities in ruins. Human remains, burned homes, looted belongings, shattered infrastructure and bullet-scarred walls bear witness to six months of unchecked violence. Survivors such as Jésula Cilus and Gesner Lebrun, left with nothing, describe despair and uncertainty about whether they can return. With more than 1.4 million people displaced and over 3,000 killed in 2025 alone, the devastation underscores Haiti’s deepening crisis and the limits of both national and international security efforts. Video by Juhakenson Blaise/The Haitian Times.
As Haiti has seen before, “Removing leaders may bring temporary calm,” he added, “but violence will return if gangs aren’t fully disarmed and their backers held accountable.”
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