US State Department Declares 2 Haitian Gangs as Terrorist Organizations

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the ‘gangs are a primary source of instability’ in the country.

Police officers patrol a neighborhood amid gang-related violence in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on April 25, 2023. Richard Pierrin/AFP via Getty Images

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday designated two Haitian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, as they move to control the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince, he said. The action comes just months after the designation was applied to several other groups based in Mexico, Venezuela, and El Salvador.