Earlier this year, during a meeting with CARICOM leaders in Saint Kitts and Nevis, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made no secret of the situation: Haitian gangs — which have controlled large parts of the country for years — pose a threat to regional security.

He called for greater cooperation among Caribbean nations against international criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking. These groups have found the region’s geography and the situation in Haiti to be fertile ground for exporting opioids throughout the area, with the U.S. southern border as their primary destination.

An analysis released in July by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace noted that approximately 10% of the cocaine reaching the United States transits through Haiti first.

President Donald Trump himself had anticipated this in late 2025, designating the Caribbean nation as a major illicit drug transit or production country for the 2026 fiscal year. It appeared on the list alongside regimes with poor reputations, such as Nicaragua and China.

Furthermore, violence has displaced around 1.5 million Haitians, while the expansion of gangs beyond Port-au-Prince increases the risk of migration surges toward the United States and other Caribbean nations.

Decades of political instability — characterized by coups, fragile governments, corruption, and dysfunctional electoral institutions since the late 1980s — created an environment where gangs could flourish and appeal to hundreds of young people lacking opportunity or hope.

Moreover, political factions historically turned to armed groups for “protection” or to intimidate adversaries; in other words, the gangs emerged with ties to the political establishment. Over time, many gangs in Port-au-Prince neighborhoods broke away from their former patrons, transforming into criminal organizations with their own territory, weaponry, and revenue streams derived from extortion.

The 2010 earthquake further weakened the State. The massive destruction of infrastructure, institutions, and housing deepened poverty and institutional fragility, which were overshadowed by the daunting reconstruction effort ahead. That disaster, which claimed 200,000 lives, was the final blow to Port-au-Prince’s capacity to respond to crises.

Then, in July 2021, assassins murdered President Jovenel Moïse, who had been ruling by decree since the country had ceased holding functional elections in 2019. His assassination created a massive constitutional and political vacuum. Since then, Haiti has remained without a democratically elected president.

In the interim, the police lost the ability to control neighborhoods, roads, and even ports. Gang finances swelled through crimes such as kidnapping, extortion, and drug trafficking. Figures like Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier emerged — a former police officer who became the country’s most prominent gang member and its de facto leader.

He counts another thug, the socialist Fidel Castro, among his idols; he has now become the Caribbean’s most powerful warlord, commanding the G9, a formidable federation of armed groups in Port-au-Prince. Accused of involvement in massacres and other grave abuses, Chérizier has attempted to portray himself as a revolutionary leader fighting against Haiti’s political elite.

The United States considers him a dangerous criminal and maintains a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

The gangs also endanger key U.S. allies. The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, is a member of the “Shield of the Americas” — a security initiative launched by the Trump administration to coordinate hemispheric efforts against drug cartels, transnational criminal organizations, and other threats to shared security.

Dominican President Luis Abinader personally participated in the inaugural “Shield of the Americas” summit in Miami on March 7, 2026, alongside leaders from 11 other countries.

Tensions regarding the gang situation are such that the Dominican Republic has begun constructing a new 14.5-kilometer section of its perimeter fence along the border with Haiti.

The Ministry of Defense reported that the new section will stand approximately 13 feet high and feature six watchtowers and 35 culverts. It will include patrol roads on both sides of the fence — with a combined width of seven meters — and also entails the installation of 1,500 solar lights, fiber-optic connections, smart cameras, and a drone network operated from the ministry’s control center.

Physical barriers are indeed key, but containment policies led by Washington could be the only hope of preventing the disaster in Haiti from spilling over and affecting the security of the Americas.