Haiti turns to weaponized drones in fight against gangs
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'If the intention is to create the illusion that the situation is under control, this is quite the opposite,' said Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, a Haiti
analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. 'This is a very, very dangerous escalation.'
A humanitarian worker in Port-au-Prince said aid groups are figuring out how to adapt.
'We work in places where thousands of people are present,' said the aid worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. 'This situation is clearly dangerous for civilians, especially if something were to detonate during a distribution.'
Since drones were first deployed in early March, they have not killed any gang leaders. But they have injured at least nine civilians, including women
and children, according to a health care worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals by Haitian officials. Two had such severe burns that they were transferred to specialized facilities for treatment.
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Little is known about the drones. Haitians say they see them and hear the explosions. Gang leaders post videos of them in their territory and the injuries they say they have sustained from them. They appear to be commercial drones that were weaponized with improvised munitions, analysts say.
It's also unclear who is in charge of the drone operations.
Neither Haiti's interim government nor its police have publicly claimed responsibility for them. But a Haitian government official said the unit is run by a task force created this year by interim prime minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé and the transitional presidential council.
'They have no transparency,' said Nathalye Cotrino, a senior researcher for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, 'and we haven't seen any accountability.'
The Haitian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security issue, defended the drone operations. Haiti, he said, is 'at war.' The drones have killed 'many' gang members, though he did not have a number, and without them, he said, the gangs would have taken over the affluent neighborhood of Pétion-Ville.
The drones are being used to target gang strongholds that civilians have already fled, he added. But when asked about the civilian casualties - which have not been previously reported - he said they would not be a 'surprise.'
'Let's be honest - it's inevitable,' the official said, adding, 'To me, it's just a detail. As long as you're in a zone controlled by gangs and there are attacks, collateral damage is going to happen.'
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The official said the task force responsible for the drones includes specialized police units. But Haitian National Police spokesman Lionel Lazarre said police use drones for surveillance and referred questions about weaponized drones to the government. Godfrey Otunge, the commander of a UN-backed, Kenya-led international police mission to Haiti, said that the force does not use weaponized drones and that Haiti's transitional government is in charge. Neither the secretary of state for public security nor a spokesman for Haiti's transitional presidential council responded to requests for comment.
Canada and the United States, which have provided equipment for the Haitian police, said their support has not included lethal drones or logistical support or training for their use. A spokesman for Canada's Foreign Ministry said that 'to our knowledge, neither the Haitian National Police nor the Haitian military forces were involved in the new Haitian task force's drone attacks.'
Analysts worry that Haiti's gangs could now be spurred to add weaponized drones to their arsenals.
'Be careful,' Jimmy 'Barbecue' Chérizier, one of Haiti's most powerful gang leaders, warned authorities in a video after a drone attack failed to kill him last month. 'The world sells everything. I can buy what you bought.'
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