2025-12-12

CONFIDENCE Friday, December 12, 2025, 7:00 PM Haiti Time High Confidence. Multiple international news agencies including ABC News, Washington Post, and Council on Foreign Relations confirm the ongoing Bel-Air violence beginning December 8. Death toll reporting ranges from 49 to over 60 with specific casualties documented including 10 child recruits, 19 women executed, and high-profile gang leaders. Impulsé Web Médias reported December 10 on continued night violence in Bel-Air. No official government statements or police intervention reports have emerged in any source. What's Happening The Krache Dife gang splinter assault on rival Viv Ansanm factions in Bel-Air has now continued for five consecutive days from December 8 through 12. The confirmed death toll exceeds 60 including 10 children who were gang recruits, 19 women executed during the violence, and at least 19 gang members. High-profile casualties include Dede, a gang leader who was beheaded, and Kempes Sanon, another prominent gang figure who was wounded. Impulsé Web Médias reported December 10 that night terror continued in Bel-Air with gangs plunging the neighborhood back into fear noting that although no official report has been communicated the population fears the spiral of violence will repeat itself in this already martyred neighborhood. As of Friday evening December 12, no official government statement has addressed the ongoing violence and no police intervention has been reported in any media source. The violence represents an internal power struggle within the Viv Ansanm gang federation with Krache Dife attempting to break away and establish independent territorial control. Why This Matters The five-day duration without any government response represents a fundamental policy decision, not operational incapacity. The Haitian National Police deliberate non-intervention signals strategic acceptance of gang self-purging with the calculation that allowing rival factions to weaken each other through internal conflict benefits eventual state operations. This doctrine treats gang-controlled territories as zones where extreme violence is tolerated provided it does not threaten government institutions or commercial areas. The death toll now exceeds the October Pont-Sonde massacre that triggered international condemnation yet has produced no comparable response. This normalizes multi-day urban warfare in the capital creating expectations that future gang territorial disputes will receive similar non-intervention. The absence of humanitarian access during five days of violence demonstrates complete state withdrawal from Bel-Air. For international partners including the GSF mission this raises critical questions about rules of engagement and whether international forces will intervene in gang-on-gang violence or limit operations to protecting government functions and strategic infrastructure.