In its final report submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2794 (2025), the Panel of Experts on Haiti — established by resolution 2653 (2022) — paints an alarming picture of collusion among gangs, political actors, business figures and state agents. The document, which covers October 2025 to July 2026, names several individuals and gang leaders, details the acts they are accused of, and recommends adding them to the sanctions list or strengthening existing measures.
The report’s central finding is unambiguous: the gangs are not autonomous. They depend on “a network of actors with an interest in maintaining their activities,” including “political figures, economic actors, and members of the security sector.” The Panel warns that “efforts to neutralize gang leaders are unlikely to produce lasting results unless accompanied by measures targeting the networks that support them.”
The UN sanctions regime, which currently lists nine individuals and two entities, can only have its full effect if it reaches those backers. Yet the report notes that “the vast majority of individuals who assist gangs and contribute to the destabilization of the country are not yet on the sanctions list.”
Alfredo Junior Antoine: the former parliamentarian (member of Congress) for Kenscoff
The Panel devotes a detailed section to Alfredo Junior Antoine, a former member of the Haitian parliament elected in the Kenscoff county from 2016 to 2020. According to the report, since at least 2016 he “has armed and supported groups of young people in the region, using them as a political tool”, groups that later became gangs or joined them.
He is described as “one of the main sponsors of the attack perpetrated on January 27, 2025, in Kenscoff,” which left more than 100 people dead and was accompanied by numerous rapes, including of minors, armed robberies, and the burning of homes. He also planned attacks with gangs in several Kenscoff neighborhoods and communicated frequently with Dady Paul, alias “Didy,” one of the area’s main gang leaders, and with Magalie Habitant, described as “the main intermediary between political officials, businesspeople and gangs.”
The report further presents him as “one of the suppliers of firearms, ammunition and financial resources to Viv Ansanm,” and says several illegally held firearms were found at his home. Arrested on April 4, 2025, on charges of conspiracy against state security, financing criminal organizations, complicity in murder and criminal association, he was released on May 9, 2025. The Panel contacted him; Antoine denied any links to gangs by email, but the Panel stands by its conclusions.
Nenel Cassy: the former senator for Nippes
Nenel Cassy, a former senator for the Nippes department (2006–2012 and 2016–2020), is also singled out. The report states that he “provided support to various armed actors in order to promote his political agenda and serve his interests.”
He controls a criminal group which operates in Chalon, in the commune of Miragoâne, and specializes in the illegal possession of firearms, murders, attempted murders, kidnappings for ransom, gang rapes, vehicle theft and armed robbery. He helped create Fantôm 509, a violent group made up of armed individuals — including police officers — that took part in public disorder, arson and the killing of police officers.
The report also accuses him of “an attempted kidnapping followed by the assassination of a Haitian diplomat, in February 2021,” and of seeking to “sow chaos in Haiti by planning armed attacks against airport infrastructure in Port-au-Prince, Les Cayes and Cap-Haïtien.” He is said to have organized meetings that led to attacks aimed at destabilizing Kenscoff, in collusion with Viv Ansanm; to have distributed weapons to gangs in Gressier in 2018; and to have supported the G-Pèp coalition as well as Vitelhomme Innocent’s Kraze Baryè gang.
Arrested on August 2, 2025, on charges of conspiracy against state security, financing criminal groups, attempted murder, and criminal association, he was released on August 19, 2025. The Panel sent him a letter, but he did not respond. He is already under sanctions imposed by Canada (March 2023) and the United States (December 2023).
Rosemila Petit Frère: the former mayor of Arcahaie
Rosemila Petit Frère, a businesswoman and former mayor of Arcahaie from 2016 to 2020, is at the center of an investigation into illicit financial activity tied to gang financing. The report states that she “maintained long-standing relationships with the leaders of the Viv Ansanm gang” and “provided them with both financial and logistical support.”
She played “a decisive role in maintaining links between gangs and criminal, political, economic and security-sector circles, notably by facilitating communications and financial transactions.” Message exchanges showed that she supported several Viv Ansanm leaders, including Renel Destina, alias “Ti Lapli,” leader of the Grand Ravine gang.
The report says that in the five months before Viv Ansanm launched in September 2023, she repeatedly called Jean Gardy, alias “Pece Pim Pim,” and Ti Lapli, and three times passed the latter “confidential operational information concerning imminent operations of the Haitian National Police.” Through her police contacts, she “often received confidential investigation reports from corrupt officers,” notably concerning Prophane Victor and Magalie Habitant.
Those corrupt relationships, the report says, allowed her to obtain no-bid public contracts to supply police uniforms. She also helped place people in strategic positions to divert funds for her own benefit, notably at the Social Assistance Fund, and laundered the money through three companies she owned: Centre Commercial, Groupe Radio Mono 96.3 FM and Excel Travel. Arrested in August 2025 while transiting the Dominican Republic from Canada, she disputed the Panel’s conclusions, which it maintains.
Guy Philippe, Youri Latortue, Prophane Victor and Jean-Charles Moïse also named
Other political figures appear in the report. Guy Philippe, a former senior police official turned political actor, is accused of supporting Viv Ansanm. The experts cite several meetings with Jean Misnord, alias “Fado,” the number three of the Simon Pelé gang, as part of efforts to expand gang activity toward southern Grand’Anse.
In the Artibonite, the experts also recall what they describe as the long-standing use of armed groups by Youri Latortue and Prophane Victor. Prophane Victor is no peripheral figure in the UN framework; he is among those already on the sanctions list.
Jean-Charles Moïse — a businessman from the Nord department, secretary-general of the Pitit Dessalines party, former presidential candidate and former senator for the North — is identified as the principal actor in the glass-eel trade, “one of the most lucrative natural resources in Haiti.” A kilogram sells for between $3,000 and $5,000 on the international market, while local fishermen are paid only $0.34 to $1.70.
The report states that “Mr. Moïse’s network decides who is assigned to the office responsible for issuing glass-eel export permits” and that he “exercises political and economic influence over the sector,” controlling the entire supply chain. The report says he pressures some customs agents to accept his tax-fraud demands, and those who refuse are transferred. He heads a network of illicit exporters linked to a broader regional operation in Caribbean waters, and mobilized his smuggling network in the North to move glass eels out of Haiti when legal exports were blocked.
The gang leaders already sanctioned
The report recalls that nine individuals are on the sanctions list: Jimmy Chérizier (HTi.001), alias “Barbecue,” leader of the Delmas 6 gang; Johnson André (HTi.002), alias “Izo,” leader of the 5 Segond gang; Renel Destina (HTi.003), alias “Ti Lapli,” leader of the Grand Ravine gang; Wilson Joseph (HTi.004), alias “Lannò San Jou,” leader of the 400 Mawozo gang; Vitelhomme Innocent (HTi.005), leader of the Kraze Baryè gang; Prophane Victor (HTi.006), a former deputy; Luckson Elan (HTi.007), leader of the Gran Grif gang; Dimitri Hérard (HTi.008), former head of the National Palace’s General Security Unit, designated for his support to gangs; and Kempes Sanon (HTi.009), leader of the Les Argentins gang.
The Panel notes that several of these leaders, notably Izo and Ti Lapli, continue to recruit minors, and that children are used as human shields against drone strikes. The gangs keep collecting ransoms, extorting businesses and levying illegal taxes, and kidnappings have risen — attributed mainly to Izo’s 5 Segond, Wilson Joseph’s 400 Mawozo and Vitelhomme Innocent’s Kraze Baryè.
A sanctions regime undercut by weak enforcement
The report finds that asset freezing remains largely ineffective. The Bank of the Republic of Haiti confirmed that only the accounts of Kempes Sanon (383,520.99 gourdes, about $2,910) and Prophane Victor (55,486.81 gourdes, about $421) have been frozen. The Panel is concerned about “the absence of a coordinated national process to locate and freeze the assets of these individuals.”
No real estate has been identified or frozen. Commercial banks were slow to act after the designations, allowing those targeted to move assets or hide them under third parties’ names. The Panel also flagged persistent fraud in the issuance of Haitian passports — some granted to foreign nationals or under false names — which raises the risk that sanctioned individuals travel under false identities.
The recommendations
The Panel recommends that the Sanctions Committee “continue to review the statements of case” and “update the list of designated individuals.” It calls on the Haitian government’s sanctions-implementation representative to report on progress and obstacles. It urges member states to support the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration strategy, to strengthen the capacities of the Haitian National Police (PNH) and the Haitian Armed Forces, and to ensure that contingents of the Gang Suppression Force strictly respect international human rights law.
Finally, the report recommends that the Haitian government adopt a decree regulating the harvesting and trade of glass eels, pending the country’s accession to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
The period the report examined was marked by heavy loss of life: 3,165 people killed and 1,551 wounded in armed violence between October 2025 and April 2026, with 65 percent of those casualties recorded during security operations. The Panel stresses that “gang violence has hampered access to humanitarian aid and basic services,” and that internal displacement has reached roughly 1.5 million people — about 12 percent of Haiti’s population.
Sources:
Final report of the Panel of Experts on Haiti, submitted pursuant to UN Security Council resolution 2794 (2025); the Panel was established under resolution 2653 (2022). All findings, quotations, charges and figures are attributed to that report. Individuals named denied or disputed the Panel’s conclusions where noted; the Panel states it maintains its findings.
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