Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/haiti-police-vitelhomme-gangs-kenyans-violence-25bcb49d09394473b6923e70a3950289
The second-in-command of popular Haitian gang “Kraze Baryè” was shot in a shootout between his gang and both Haitian and Kenyan police. The shooting occured in Torcelle, a community in Port-au-Prince. The police also confiscated firearms, munitions, phones, and “other sensitive materials” as described by the Haitian National Police. The overall goal for these actions is to eventually neutralize the gang and its leader, Vitel’Homme Innocent, who is the reason Kenyan forces are in Haiti in the first place. They stated that they started the mission to stop Innocent from “committing atrocities against innocent Haitians”. The U.S. is also offering a $2 million reward for his capture. The gang is reported to have performed multiple acts of rape, extortion, kidnapping, blackmail, and killings. It is regarded as one of the biggest and most dangerous gangs in the city. Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille promised that more action will be taken to eliminate these violent gangs and bring peace to their communities.
Haiti really can’t catch a break, huh? The constant natural disasters aren’t enough, now they’ve brought in Kenyan forces to help out with an outbreak in gang violence. At least they’re making progress. It’s kind of ironic that the leader of the gang has “innocent” in his name considering the atrocities he and his gang have committed. Conille has his work cut out for him. I find it interesting that Kenya of all states was the one to help Haiti out here. I understand that they’re one of the most developed states in Africa, but I’m pretty sure they’ve got their own gang issues that they should probably address. Maybe the police force is used to dealing with gangs and Haiti wanted their expertise.
This relates to class because it is an example of reciprocity, which is the idea of “I scratch your back, you scratch mine.” Kenya and Haiti are both part of the United Nations, which is an IGO built on reciprocity. Kenya is scratching Haiti’s back by bringing policemen to their country to help fight the recent spike in gang violence. There’s a good chance that Haiti will do something in return when they get everything sorted out over there, although it doesn’t look like that will happen in the near future.