LatinNews Daily - 01 December 2025

Haiti: On 24 November the US Department of State announced that it was taking steps to impose visa restrictions on a Haitian government official for “supporting gangs and other criminal organizations, and obstructing the government of Haiti’s fight against terrorist gangs designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations”. It did not identify the individual but Fritz-Alphonse Jean, a member of Haiti’s nine-strong transitional presidential council (CPT), has since come forward and said that it was him. He told the Associated Press (AP) on 25 November that he rejected those accusations, which according to the AP, “some believe are being used as a threat to try and influence Haiti’s politics”. The CPT’s mandate ends in February 2026, by which point elections were meant to have been held and a new president and legislature elected. However, this has not taken place, resulting in considerable uncertainty as to what will happen. According to AP, “Critics have asserted that some council members seek to stay in power beyond that date and are looking for a new prime minister who would support those plans”. It then cites Jean as saying that “Once we started reviewing the possibilities of changing the head of government, members of (the council) started receiving threats of visa cancellation and other sanctions from the U.S. Embassy representative and the Canadian ambassador”. The AP noted that there was “no immediate comment” from US or Canadian officials. The US visa restrictions are in line with a policy, first announced in October 2022, targeting individuals (and their family members) who “provide financial or material support to gangs and criminal organizations operating in Haiti”. In May the US government designated two Haitian gangs, Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif, as foreign terrorist organisations, having previously blacklisted gang leaders including Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier for violence.

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