June 1, 2021, marks a major turning point in the rise of gangs in Haiti. On that day, the takeover of Martissant by armed groups and the subsequent withdrawal of state authorities from the area symbolized, according to CARDH, the formalization of criminal dominance in the country. The organization denounces a “permissive, even complicit” attitude from several political and security officials who allegedly enabled this breakdown.

The human rights institution highlights several telling incidents that illustrate this dynamic: the unjustified abandonment of an operation announced on April 24, 2020, to dislodge the Village-de-Dieu gang; the failed operation in Village-de-Dieu on March 12, 2021, which resulted in the brutal deaths of five elite police officers, without any accountability or sanctions; and the isolation followed by the release of Inspector General Carl-Henry Boucher after Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe publicly admitted the breakdown of the chain of command.