Members and leaders of Haitian gangs, as well as the individuals who finance and arm them, could soon find themselves designated as "terrorists" and imprisoned in the notorious CECOT maximum-security prison in El Salvador.

The U.S. State Department, which recently designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and seven other criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations, is working to assign the same designation, or a less severe "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" category, to the leaders and members of the Haitian gang coalition Viv Ansanm and the armed group Gran Grif operating in the Artibonite.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who discussed growing instability in Haiti with Caribbean leaders during a visit to Jamaica in March, believes the ongoing violence poses a threat to both regional security and U.S. interests. The terrorist designation would extend U.S. jurisdiction to anyone aiding the gangs, from arms and ammunition traffickers to Haitian officials who fund the groups. Anyone convicted of aiding the gangs would be considered a "terrorist" and face harsher penalties, including counterterrorism sanctions.

"For too long the enablers of Haiti’s brutal gangs, in the U.S., Colombia and elsewhere have gotten away with impunity, but they will now be faced with the criminal consequences of providing material support to terrorism," said a senior State Department official. "This includes scenarios where Haitian gang leaders and members could end up at High-Security Detention Center for Terrorists in El Salvador (CECOT), the largest in the world (capacity of 40,000 inmates), alongside fellow designated terrorists."

Report on CECOT:

SL/ HaitiLibre