Small businesses are closing due to gangs in Bas Artibonite

The business climate has been deteriorating in the Lower Artibonite region since armed gang attacks began in 2019

In the Lower Artibonite region, small businesses are closing one after another, following attacks carried out by armed gangs from the « Gran Grif » group.

Entrepreneur Mackenson Josius knows this all too well. After fifty years of serving the community, his father, Pierre, fled the country last February. He had to hastily close down his bakery, « Tout-à-Jésus, » and had to lay off his forty employees following another attack by the Almighty « Gran Grif » gang at the entrance of the Verrettes commune.

Mackenson Josius is himself in a precarious situation. According to the entrepreneur, the typical operations of his food products business, « Kay Macken Dépôt, » have seen a decrease of approximately 40%.

In the Lower Artibonite region, small businesses are closing one after another, following attacks carried out by armed gangs from the « Gran Grif » group.

In reality, the business climate has been deteriorating in the Lower Artibonite region since the beginning of armed gang attacks in 2019. With complete impunity, these individuals engage in theft, kidnappings, property seizures, or the diversion of goods, as reported by AyiboPost.

« Before the crisis escalated, the journey from Mirebalais to Verrettes to transport 600 sacks of rice cost me 45,000 gourdes, » Josius reveals. Currently, « the cost has risen to 120,000 gourdes. »

In 2021, the bandits hijacked a truck carrying 700 sacks of rice from his company. To avoid closing his shop, as several other merchants had done, Josius had to borrow fifteen million gourdes from a local bank.

« With the current situation, I still can’t repay that loan, » states the businessman, who is facing difficulties in paying his ten employees. He is forced to reduce some salaries by 60% to avoid layoffs.

To avoid closing his shop, like several other merchants had done, Josius had to borrow fifteen million gourdes from a local bank.

Louis-Philippe was running « Pipo Quincaillerie, » a company specializing in the sale of construction materials in Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite. In July 2022, he left the country for the United States due to gang attacks, thereby closing his business.

Two months later, Louis-Philippe returned to Haiti, cautiously reopened his store, and repaid all of his debts. However, due to the worsening attacks by armed gangs on the night of October 21, 2022, he decided to abandon everything the following day and sought refuge with his family in another commune, the name of which he does not wish to disclose.

Since then, the father has been living off of his savings. « I have children to support, » Louis-Philippe laments. « I hold on to the hope that things will change one day because I have nothing else besides my business, » he hopes.

In reality, the business environment has been deteriorating in the Lower Artibonite region since the beginning of armed gang attacks in 2019.

Certain areas are becoming increasingly inaccessible, which is paralyzing commercial exchanges. This situation even affects businesses in municipalities that are not directly impacted by the crisis.

For example, the main roads providing access to Saint-Marc have been cut off by gang activity, even though the city itself remains relatively calm.

Even alternative routes from Mirebalais to Liancourt to Saint-Marc and from Saint-Michel de l’Atalaye to Dessalines or Gonaïves are overrun by armed gangs.

« This puts towns like Saint-Marc, Montrouis, Arcahaie in a position that prevents any possible exchange, even suffocating them, » says Jocelyn Ulysse, a member of the Association of Entrepreneurs of Saint-Marc (AESM).

The alternative routes from Mirebalais to Liancourt to Saint-Marc, and from Saint-Michel de l’Atalaye to Dessalines or Gonaïves, are overrun by armed bands.

Everything is unfolding as if it were a coordinated network of gangs aimed at obstructing the delivery of goods in the vicinity of Saint-Marc, observes entrepreneur Ulysse.

Jacques Eddy Germain owns several soft drink depots in Verrettes. Before the deterioration of the security situation, he sold 100 crates of frozen drinks per day. Today, Germain doesn’t reach the 60 crate mark per day, and merchants take longer to pay, according to him. He laments about the return of unsold products that the company must store in electricity-consuming freezers.

According to a February 2023 statement from the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), « the gangs have created an atmosphere of terror characterized by looting, murders, kidnappings, destruction, extortion, hijacking of cargo trucks, and acts of rape against young girls and women in the communes of Liancourt, Verrettes, Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, and L’Estère. »

Everything unfolds as if it were a coordinated network of gangs aimed at hindering the delivery of goods in the surroundings of Saint-Marc.

Residents are fleeing in large numbers, and those who remain in towns like Petite-Rivière de L’Artibonite are experiencing a real nightmare, with no police presence since January 2023. Nothing is functioning anymore, except for the Charles Colimon Hospital, which the gangs currently allow to remain open.

To receive a money transfer or to cash a check, one has to travel to Saint-Marc by motorcycle, but the cost of the journey is almost unaffordable. Furthermore, the few merchants in Petite-Rivière who try to sell their goods at the Dupuy market are raising prices.

The Pont-Jour market in Dessalines, which used to sell unhusked rice, is no longer functioning. It was under the control of armed gangs, but the absence of rice production has had significant consequences for both sellers and buyers, according to former deputy Vickens Derilus, as it was the main source of income for many people.

Residents are fleeing in large numbers, and those who remain in towns like Petite-Rivière de L’Artibonite are experiencing a real nightmare, with no police presence since January 2023.

The instability in various areas such as Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, Dessalines, Liancourt, etc., is causing an influx of displaced individuals towards Saint-Marc or Verrettes.

This is a concern for Vickens Derilus, former deputy of the Verrettes commune, who notes that most families are overwhelmed and cannot accommodate so many people in their homes. According to him, the commune lacks the necessary infrastructure to host the multitude of people fleeing their homes.

By Tchika Joachim et Jérôme Wendy Norestyl

English translation by Sarah Jean.

Watch our special AyiboLab program, produced in April 2023, on the forced abandonment of land by farmers due to the terror caused by armed gangs in Artibonite: