Trump ally attempts to recruit Haitian American veterans for Haiti mercenary mission

Haitian American military veterans are being recruited by Erik Prince, founder of the controversial private military firm Blackwater, to serve as paid mercenaries in Haiti this summer, according to a new report by The New York Times.  The effort is part of a contract Prince has signed with Haiti’s transitional government to help suppress gang violence in and around Port-au-Prince.

The recruitment plan, first reported by The New York Times, involves sourcing as many as 150 foreign fighters, including U.S.-trained Haitian Americans, to operate under Prince’s leadership. The deployment is expected to include helicopters, weapon shipments, and drone-assisted assaults on gang territory.

One of the veterans approached was Rodenay Joseph, a United States Army veteran, who provides security training and is running for U.S. Congress, District 20 in Florida, challenging incumbent Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

Joseph, who says he’s been in contact with the Haitian government regarding the country’s security crisis, urged them to work with Haitian security contractors who have the technical expertise and cultural context to work effectively in Haiti. 

“We have the knowledge. We have the experience. We can do it,” he said in an interview with The Haitian Times Wednesday evening. Joseph is against Prince’s involvement in Haiti’s affairs. “We can solve the issue with Haitian-led efforts.”

Joseph confirmed to The Haitian Times that Prince contacted him directly seeking the names of Haitian American veterans to help “supply personnel for contract since late last year.”

“We should be very worried, because if he’s from the U.S. government, at least he can have the semblance of having to answer to Congress,” he said to The New York Times. “If it’s him, his contract, he doesn’t owe anybody an explanation.”

“It’s just another payday.”

Adding that Prince planned on sending “private soldiers from El Salvador to Haiti.”

If we’re going to work with the U.S., we should partner with them on logistics and intelligence, Joseph said in his interview with The Haitian Times.

“Besides that, this is Haiti-led,” he said. 

Who is Erik Prince?

Erik Prince is a former U.S. Navy SEAL best known for founding Blackwater Worldwide, a U.S.-based security firm that exploded in notoriety after a 2007 massacre in Baghdad where Blackwater contractors killed 17 Iraqi civilians. The killings led to multiple convictions and, later, presidential pardons by Donald Trump in 2020. He is also the brother of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary during Trump’s first term, who resigned after the January 6th attacks on the Capitol in 2021.

Since Blackwater dissolved and was rebranded as Constellis, Prince has continued to run private military ventures in conflict zones, including Libya, Afghanistan, and now Haiti. 

What has Prince been hired to do?

According to The New York Times and Joseph, however, the duties may include providing security at the country’s ports and customs operations in addition to dismantling gangs.

“This guy is going to make Haiti his own home,” Joseph said. “This guy is going to have [or] sign a contract for 20 to 25 years, and he’s going to take a long time. That will never be paid to me. 

“That’s my concern,” he added.

A copy of a contract Prince reportedly signed with Haiti’s government has yet to be seen, which is a regular occurrence in the country. 

One contract that does appear in U.S. government records reviewed by The Haitian Times shows that Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, Haiti’s prime minister, signed a contract on Feb. 7 with a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm, Continental Strategy. The firm is to provide “government relations services” for a year at a $35,000 monthly retainer. 

Haiti’s history with mercenaries 

Since March, Prince’s teams have operated armed drones in Haiti aimed at killing gang leaders. 

That same month, The Haitian Times reported on a Haitian National Police (PNH) operation in the Delmas 6 neighborhood of  Port-au-Prince, which resulted in the deaths of several gang members, Fils-Aimé had announced on X.

At the time, rumors circulated that Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier may have been shot and possibly killed in the operation. A video of Chérizier later surfaced that evening, refuting the rumors of his death. 

Haiti’s relationship with private military contractors stretches back decades. U.S. firms provided security during the 1994 return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. But in recent years, the results have been far more controversial, especially after Colombian mercenaries, hired through a U.S.-based firm, were implicated in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

More than a million people have been displaced from Port-au-Prince since Moïse’s assassination due to gang violence.

Macollvie J. Neel contributed to this reporting.

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