Haiti’s La Chapelle falls under gang control as police station torched and town sealed off 

Editor’s Note: This is a developing story. It will be updated as more details become available.

PORT-AU-PRINCE —  La Chapelle, a commune in Haiti’s lower Artibonite Department, fell to gang control early Sunday morning, June 22, after armed men from the “Talibans” group based in Canaan—a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince—launched a pre-dawn assault. The assailants set fire to the police station, including units of the Anti-Gang Tactical Unit (UTAG), forcing officers to retreat.

The operation began around 5 a.m. and was carried out by the affiliate of Viv Ansanm, a broader gang coalition led by notorious leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, according to the town mayor, Robinson Dieuseul Fonrose. He said the assailants quickly sealed all entry and exit points to block police reinforcements.

“They now control the entire commune,” Fonrose said on Radio Télévision Caraïbes. “Those still inside are unable to leave, as the gunmen grow stronger by the hour.”

Authorities had received warnings as early as June 19 that La Chapelle was a target. Still, no proactive measures were taken. While no fatalities have been reported yet, several homes and the police station were destroyed. By the time reinforcements arrived, the gang had already taken complete control.

Fonrose warned that nearby communes remain at risk, especially those with police presence. He believes the UTAG’s deployment in La Chapelle may have triggered the assault, as gangs seek to eliminate any remaining law enforcement resistance.

“These men arrived in overwhelming numbers, heavily armed,” he said, urging support for vulnerable residents—especially the elderly—still trapped inside the town.

Despite the escalating crisis, national authorities, including the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT), the Prime Minister’s Office and law enforcement institutions, have yet to respond publicly. La Chapelle becomes the latest area added to the growing list of more than 28 zones under gang control across Haiti in 2025.

The attack follows unrest in nearby Mirebalais, where residents toppled the main infrastructure supporting the Péligre hydroelectric plant, cutting the power distribution to Port-au-Prince. The act was part of a protest over the government’s failure to address gang takeovers and unmet promises to restore security.

In La Chapelle, as in Mirebalais, Terrier-Rouge, Saut-d’Eau and other communes, gunmen have fortified the town with makeshift barricades, burned machinery and now roam openly in public spaces.

Communes across Haiti are experiencing similar upheaval. Kenscoff, for example, announced countermeasures, including systematic searches at key checkpoints, the deployment of surveillance drones and closing off back routes used by armed groups to penetrate the area.

Meanwhile, in an exclusive media briefing, Fritz Alphonse Jean, the president of the CPT, denounced state dysfunction and corruption as key obstacles to fighting the violence. He confirmed that the government had hired a private foreign security firm—not Blackwater as first reported at the end of May by The New York Times—to assist the Haitian National Police (PNH).

Jean declined to share specifics of the agreement but acknowledged the national police alone cannot combat the crisis. He called for greater awareness within the government.

“I get the impression that those inside state institutions don’t grasp the extent of the country’s vulnerability,” he said.

As gang violence continues to spread unchecked, many Haitians are either fleeing or organizing grassroots resistance—filling the void left by an absent state.

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