Haiti's army is looking for recruits to fight gangs – and young people are taking action

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The announcement that Haiti's military was seeking recruits crackled from a small radio at a street stand in downtown Port-au-Prince where Maurenceley Clerge repairs and sells smartphones.

It was early morning, and the 21-year-old paused, eager to hear the details. He imagined he would earn enough to afford food and rent. Two weeks later, he filled out the necessary paperwork and stood in line under the scorching sun with hundreds of other Haitians to join the army.

“This is the moment I've been waiting for,” said Clerge, who is staying with a friend who also provides him with food. “I want to serve this country as a citizen while also moving up and improving my life.”

Thousands of young Haitians seize the opportunity to become soldiers as widespread gang violence creates a rare job opportunity in a deeply impoverished country where work is scarce. Ignoring the possibility of being kidnapped, tortured or killed, Haiti's youngest generation is heeding the call of a government trying to rebuild a once-hated military that was reinstated only years ago with the goal of breaking up gangs.

“I've thought about it a lot because I know that being a soldier requires a lot of sacrifice,” said Samuel Delmas, who recently applied. “Everything you do is risky.”

The 20-year-old is taking a computer repair course but is unemployed. He found out about the job advertisement through a Facebook group.

“I always wanted to be useful to my country,” he said.

Two years ago, Delmas and his family were forced to leave their home by gangs, with only enough time to grab a few items of clothing under a hail of bullets.

“I want to protect citizens who are on the run like me,” he said.

“Most young children do not work”

The Haitian government has not disclosed how many soldiers it plans to recruit, nor how many have applied so far, but documents posted online by the Defense Ministry show that at least 3,000 people were selected in mid-August and asked to submit paperwork while they await physical and mental tests.

If all of them were hired, the troop strength of 2,000 men from the beginning of last year would be more than double.

About 60 percent of Haiti's nearly 12 million people earn less than two dollars a day and inflation has risen to double digits in recent years.

“Most young kids don't work,” said Emerson Celadon, a 25-year-old mechanic who applied and was selected for the next round. “I made some money, but … it's still not enough for a family of four.”

It is not clear how much soldiers earn. Defense Minister Jean-Marc Bernier Antoine did not respond to requests for comment. However, Celadon said friends in the army told him they earn about $300 a month.

On a recent afternoon, Celadon joined hundreds of mostly young men queuing outside a former UN base, a yellow envelope under their arm, to take the first of several required tests to join the army.

A dark past

Haiti's armed forces were once widely feared and hated, with soldiers accused of horrific human rights abuses. The military organized several coups in the second half of the 20th century, even after the so-called “dictator for life” François Duvalier had weakened its strength.

After the last coup in 1991 to overthrow former President Jean-Bertrand AristideThe government disbanded the armed forces in 1995. At that time, they still numbered about 7,000 soldiers.

“The decision to demobilize the army … turned out to be one of the most disastrous decisions in the country's history,” said Michael Deibert, author of two books on Haiti, noting that it led to the emergence of the first generation of politically aligned gangs in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“They filled a security vacuum that would have been left by a security force, but whose role the Haitian police could never fully assume,” Deibert said.

After disbanding the army, the government created the Haitian National Police and Coast Guard, which were reinforced by the arrival of UN troops. After the UN ended its peacekeeping missions, the army was reinstated by President Jovenel Moïse in 2017. who was murdered in July 2021.

Since then, the military has played only a small role in fighting gangs and protecting high-ranking government officials. But as gang violence increased in the years following Moïse's assassination, former Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced in March 2023 that he would mobilize all security forcesAt that time, the armed forces had about 2,000 soldiers trained by experts in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina.

Despite this announcement, until recently the military played a subordinate role compared to the police.

A new army

General Derby Guerrier was sworn in as the new commander of the armed forces on August 20, just days after a mass recruitment drive for new soldiers ended. “Close ranks!” he ordered soldiers and officers during a brief but forceful speech, urging them to help Haiti restore peace.

From January to May, more than 3,200 murders were reported in Haiti, with gang violence More than half a million people became homeless in recent years, according to the UN

In coordinated attacks earlier this year, gangs took control of more than two dozen police stations, closed the main international airport for almost three months and stormed Haiti's two largest prisons and freed thousands of inmates.

Newly appointed Prime Minister Garry Conille warned that the armed forces face “enormous challenges” but promised to modernize the military and invest in communications and surveillance technologies. He also said he would improve military infrastructure, housing and health care for soldiers and their families.

“A soldier… whose family is safe and well cared for is a more determined and purposeful soldier,” Conille said.

The military is expected to work with the Haitian police and a United Nations-supported mission led by Kenyawhich has so far sent around 400 police officers to Haiti to curb gang violence. In the coming months, police officers and soldiers from countries such as Benin, Chad and Jamaica are also expected to arrive, bringing the total to 2,500 foreign personnel.

Mechanic Celadon hopes he can work with them and help change Haiti.

“I would like to see the country as I heard it was back then: a Haiti where everyone can move freely, where there are no gangs and where everyone can work,” he said.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.