Gang retaliation in Haiti’s Artibonite disrupts trade, driving up prices in Northwest

PORT-DE-PAIX, Haiti — Gang retaliation after a late-September security operation in Gros-Morne, Artibonite, has disrupted the movement of goods and fuel along National Road 5 (RN5), driving up transportation costs and prices in Haiti’s Northwest, according to merchants and transporters, who urge law enforcement authorities to take concrete action.

“Since the operation carried out by the Gang Suppression Force, the gang members have become much more hostile toward us [travelers and merchants] who have to use National Road 5,” said Kerline Pierre, 29, a grocery merchant from Port-de-Paix. 

“It has become much more difficult than previously for us to restock our goods,” she told The Haitian Times last week. “We are forced to sell our products at higher prices to cover transportation costs, especially since we also have to pay fees at the reinforced gang-controlled checkpoints.”