Blackwater Founder Recruited To Battle Haiti’s Criminal Gangs

Former Navy SEAL and Trump ally, Erik Prince, also known as the founder of Blackwater Worldwide private military contractors widely used in Iraq at the height of the U.S. war there, will now be spearheading lethal operations against Haiti’s murderous criminal gangs.

Haiti’s growing, violent, and heavily armed gangs, two of which have recently been labeled Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) by the Trump administration, are terrorizing the island nation and threatening to take over its capital, Port-au-Prince (no relation to Erik!).

Earlier this month, the Viv Ansanm coalition, made up of more than two dozen of Haiti’s best-armed criminal groups, and the Gran Grief gang have been labeled as both FTOs and Specially Designated Global Terrorists by the State Department which now views the gangs as a direct threat to U.S. national security.

The gangs join eight other Latin American criminal groups labeled terrorists by the State Department in February. That list includes Mexican cartels as well as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.

While Blackwater no longer exists, Prince owns other private military entities which will likely be used here. At least one other U.S. security company is secretly working in Haiti.

This more direct on-the-ground engagement by U.S. private military and security contractors comes after Haiti’s government hired U.S. contractors, including Prince, in recent months to support a secret task force using killer drones against gang leaders.

It also follows the expensive but failed international police mission staffed by Kenyan cops hyped by Joe Biden.

As part of this new effort, Prince has also been scouting Haitian American military veterans to hire and is expected to send up to 150 ‘mercenaries’ to Haiti over the summer.

Prince has already reportedly shipped a large cache of weapons to the country, pending the arrival of his armed contractors.

Details of the contract between Haiti and Prince remain sketchy, but The New York Times reports that the State Department, which has helped fund, equip and train Haiti’s National Police, is not paying Prince or his company for work in Haiti.

Private U.S. military contractors operating overseas need a State Department license, but they aren’t made public.

The NYT explains why Haiti has recruited Prince and his military privateers:

[Haiti’s] crisis has deepened since its last president was assassinated in 2021, and the government now appears willing to take desperate measures to secure control. Armed groups escalated the violence last year by uniting and taking over prisons, burning down police stations and attacking hospitals. About 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes and hundreds of thousands are living in shelters.

Gangs have captured so much territory in recent months that U.N. officials have warned that the capital is in danger of falling under complete criminal control.

The situation is dire enough that officials and civilians alike say they are eager for any overseas help, particularly after a $600 million international police mission started by the Biden administration and largely staffed by Kenyan police officers failed to receive adequate international personnel and money.

The U.S. military contractors will be armed with high-powered weapons, helicopters, sophisticated surveillance and attack drones to take on the powerful gangs.

Rod Joseph, a Haitian American Army veteran who owns a Florida-based security company, and has trained Haitian police to employ surveillance drones, says he has been in talks with Prince to help provide trained manpower for his contract.

He said Prince initially gave him the impression that his effort was somehow approved or sponsored by the U.S. government, but the plan then shifted to be led by the Haitian government.

Joseph, who is critical of Prince’s effort unless it is supervised by the U.S. government, added that Prince told him that he planned to also use private ex-soldiers from El Salvador along with three helicopters to use against the Haitian gangs.

While many are quick to criticize the Trump-supporting Prince as an opportunist or mercenary with a checkered past in Iraq, others argue he is a last resort to save Haiti since its people are desperate for security — wherever it comes from.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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