A man throws a tire to close a street at 6 p.m. as part of a barricade erected during the "bwa kale" movement to fight gangs seeking to take control of their neighborhood in the Canape Vert area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Old cars, used tires and barbed wire block off the biggest neighbourhood in the capital of Haiti.
"If you're not from here, we're going to kill you," said Leo, a community leader who granted the AP access to the Turgeau neighbourhood so that journalists could see how the neighbourhood is responding to the gangs estimated to control 80% of Port-au-Prince. He did not provide his last name to protect his family.
Weslander Al Cegaire, a cook in the southern city of Les Cayes with a round face and easy smile, told the AP that his cousin was recently killed by bwa kale participants while riding with a motorcycle driver who was targeted. Kettia, a resident who provided only her first name to protect her and her family, said that the gang snatched her husband, forced him to lead them out of the neighbourhood, and used him as a shield as they exchanged fire with police. He survived.
In Turgeau, some vigilantes walked around with sharpened machetes, like 63-year-old Rene Mizak, who said he was a former Tonton Macoute -- a private militia that terrorized Haiti during the dictatorships of Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude.