The director general of the PNH has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The acting director general of the PNH, Vladimir Paraison, who had disappeared from the radar amid concerns and a surge in kidnappings, returned to the spotlight on Wednesday, August 5, 2026. He is also back in a context marked by criticism, just a few days before his first anniversary leading the institution\u2014a period marked by fragile and fragmented progress as well as record financial allocations to the PNH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The director general was seen in the streets, accompanied by the central administrative and general services director Alain Auguste and other members of the command, as part of the coordination of several operations in Cit\u00e9 Aux Cayes, on the Delmas road, Delmas 31, 33, and 40, according to a PNH statement, against a backdrop of rising kidnappings and reports of police officers being involved among the kidnappers.Between January and March, the UN recorded 57 kidnappings, 36 of which were attributed to the Village of God gang, still very active despite the pounding of its positions by kamikaze drones. In recent weeks, there\u2019s been a feeling that security forces have eased off, reducing the intensity of operations like they did at the end of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acting Director General Vladimir Paraison, who will complete his first year leading the PNH this August 8, had found some momentum that led to the retaking of certain points around Champ de Mars, in Nazon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There have been successful operations in Bel-Air, the incursion, five years after the trauma of March 12, 2021, in Village-de-Dieu. The spokesperson for Viv Ansanm, Jimmy Ch\u00e9rizier, whose positions were bombarded in Delmas 4 and 6, has become a nomad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the balance of power has not shifted in favor of law enforcement. Lanm\u00f2 San jou has never seemed so powerful, recently showing off part of its arsenal once again, including the apparently recent acquisition of several dozen M-4 type assault rifles, which, according to several sources, come from the Dominican Republic. Jeff Canaan, Vitelhomme Innocent, Chrisla, Jean Luckson \u00c9lan, and the other gang leaders are still in play.There are fears that some gang leaders might pull back strategically for a while to rebuild their ranks and restock their ammunition in a context where the land and sea borders are almost completely uncontrolled and unsupervised. The small progress made toward restoring security, especially in the Port-au-Prince district \u2014 which was on the brink of falling in March 2025 \u2014 is credited to Paraison and his staff. But things are still very fragile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, in his July 14, 2026 report to the Security Council, noted “fragmented and fragile” advances by the security forces, but also the continued influence of gangs over a large part of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.”Operations against gangs carried out by specialized police units, aimed at regaining control of main roads and clearing strategic routes, have forced gang members to pull back from some key locations in Delmas and Port-au-Prince and have allowed the state presence to be partially restored. Security forces have secured institutional sites such as universities and administrative buildings around the Champ de Mars,” wrote the UN Secretary-General, noting that “however, these gains remain fragmented and fragile.””Several aerial operations carried out with the support of a foreign private military company have also been reported in Port-au-Prince and in the Artibonite department,” the report says. “At the same time, gangs have continued to exert their influence over much of the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, particularly in the municipalities of Carrefour, Cit\u00e9 Soleil, Gressier, and Croix-des-Bouquets. Meanwhile, violent clashes between rival gangs, linked to control over illicit revenue sources and extortion activities in the area known as the Cul-de-Sac plain, which covers parts of Cit\u00e9 Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets, have intensified,” continues the UN Secretary-General’s report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The BINUH “Flash report,” made public on August 6, 2026, a little over two weeks after Guterres’ report to the Security Council, indicates that “between March 6 and July 31, 2026, at least 613 people were killed and 375 others injured, mainly during clashes between the criminal gangs of the Viv Ansanm coalition in the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac and several neighborhoods of the Cit\u00e9 Soleil commune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the victims, more than a third were people not associated with the gangs, including 111 women and 77 children. More than 176 women and girls were victims of rape by gang members, including gang rapes, often as a form of ‘punishment’ because they lived in areas under the control of rival gangs, according to this statement.\u201cThe particularly heavy human toll of gang clashes in recent months in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area highlights the urgent need for stronger protection of the population, notably by providing the Gang Enforcement Unit with the necessary means for its full and rapid deployment,\u201d emphasized the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti and Head of BINUH, Carlos Ruiz Massieu, according to this statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenscoff, in the hills above P\u00e9tion-Ville, remains an open-air death trap, like other towns in Lower Artibonite and the Central region. The UN spokesperson, St\u00e9phane Dujarric, citing the \u201chorrific report\u201d from the human rights section, revealed that \u201cbetween July 4 and 9, the \u2018Village of God\u2019 gang carried out a series of attacks in Kenscoff and P\u00e9tion-Ville, in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, killing at least 61 residents, including 14 children.\u201d\u201cThe victims were killed while trying to flee, inside their homes, or after encountering gang members on the roads and trails. The violence was concentrated in the town of Robin, where most of the human losses were recorded,\u201d the UN spokesperson had said.Increase in Gang Violence in Artibonite and the Centre<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gang violence has increased in the departments of Artibonite and the Centre and has spread to the South-East department. Between March 29 and April 30, gang attacks escalated in the Artibonite department, in Petite Rivi\u00e8re-de-l\u2019Artibonite, Dessalines, Saint-Marc, L\u2019Est\u00e8re, and Gona\u00efves. They caused at least 122 deaths and 70 injuries among the local population. The growing presence of gangs along the main transportation routes in the Artibonite department has increasingly restricted freedom of movement and disrupted the delivery of essential supplies as well as access to services.Under Paraison, the PNH, equipped like never before, has record budget allocations for the current fiscal year (2025-2026), totaling 46 billion 326 million gourdes, with over 18 billion gourdes earmarked for investments. As of June 30, 2026, according to the State\u2019s financial operations table, the PNH had spent a large part of this budget. \u201cThe amounts allocated to the PNH reflect the priority the government gives to security,\u201d the financial operations table (TOFE), a copy of which Le Nouvelliste obtained, emphasized. Under Paraison and thanks to funding from the government and international partners, the PNH has a fleet of armored vehicles and is progressing with the P-4000 plan, which aims to add 4,000 more police officers to the institution. A total of 1,192 new officers, including 238 women, have joined the ranks of the Haitian National Police (PNH) as part of the 36th class.Currently, 1,200 people are in training at the National Police School. “This class will strengthen our ranks by bringing freshness, vigor, and new blood to the fight against terrorist gangs,” said Mr. Paraison, noting that the third cohort of the P4000+ program was preparing last May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Better coordination with the FAd\u2019H and the elements of the private military company, hired by the State under a renewed contract worth several tens of millions of dollars, hasn\u2019t filled the gaps, pending the deployment of the FRG.The PNH, under Paraison, has not yet solved the problem of extrajudicial killings that some police officers are accused of, nor managed to clean up the institution of its bad apples working with gangs. ‘The PNH has to be an honest force,’ Henry T. Wooster, then charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires at the U.S. embassy in Haiti, told Le Nouvelliste. ‘The basic element that needs to be in place here is that the PNH has to be an honest force,’ he said. ‘At the same time, there\u2019s still a lot of cleaning up to do within the force,’ Henry T. Wooster pointed out.Vladimir Paraison, originally from Jacmel and a member of the 3rd graduating class of the PNH, who got through a tough year showing he had what it takes by making some noticeable progress, has hit a bit of a slump lately. He and his top team, in this context of rising kidnappings and a certain laxity regarding the need for cleanup, are well aware of the frustrations and the huge amount of work still ahead to get life back on track in all communities across the country. He has to know that he\u2019s doing a vital but thankless job, and that the shelf life of the laurels from past victories is pretty short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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