Haitian Americans in Florida are desperate to hear from relatives amid violence

MIAMI — It has been over two weeks since the family of Steeve Pierre, a Miami resident originally from Haiti, received the dreaded phone call asking for a ransom for the release of his cousin.

Pierre, 40, who came from Haiti in 2019 and owns a landscaping business in Miami, said his cousin, Borgella Antoine, went missing in Haiti at the end of February. Antoine, a truck driver, was delivering goods when he was kidnapped by members of a gang.

“At the beginning, we were trying to do something,” Pierre said. “I even sent money to Haiti in an effort to raise enough money to get him released.”

But the gang started asking for more money and now wants $500,000. It’s too much for Pierre’s family, and the owner of the truck company he works for is now trying to negotiate to lower the ransom.

“It’s very stressful for all the family. Whenever your phone rings you’re afraid to answer because you don’t know what the news will be,” Pierre said. “We’re praying he’s alive and will come home safe.”

Pierre is one of many Haitians living in Miami whose lives have been rattled by the outbreak of violence in the Caribbean nation. Florida is home to the largest community of Haitian Americans in the United States. Many of them, with deep ties to their country and with relatives back home, are grappling with the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen next. Some are gripped with fear when they are unable to reach a loved one by phone.

Anderson Charles, 40, a Miami resident who came from Haiti in 2001, said family members who live in Port-au-Prince, the capital, were forced to go into hiding in the countryside recently.

While they were away from home, armed burglars broke in, stole possessions and eventually realized the family had relatives in the U.S. Charles said the gang members decided to wait for the family to return home, so they could kidnap them and ask for a ransom.

The family was alerted by neighbors and have been hiding since.

“I spoke to my aunt this morning, and she’s scared,” Charles said. “She doesn’t have money and it’s hard for me to send it because, when they go to a bank or Western Union, they are being watched by gang members.”

The current turmoil is not completely new to the Haitian American community here. That population began growing rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s as people escaped political repression and economic hardship during dictatorships. Many settled into neighborhoods like Little Haiti in Miami, where colorful murals decorate the streets and Kreyòl is heard everywhere.

Haiti, with about 11 million people, has been in turmoil since the still-unsolved assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 led to widespread violence.

The lawlessness in Haiti reached a climax recently after the unelected prime minister, Ariel Henry, traveled to Kenya in late February to secure a deal for a United Nations-backed security mission to support the police. The government declared a state of emergency as Haiti went into a downward spiral of terror and violence. Gangs control much of Port-au-Prince, setting fire to police stations, storming two of the country’s biggest prisons and freeing an estimated 4,000 inmates. U.S. forces evacuated nonessential workers from the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Henry announced Tuesday from Puerto Rico that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created. Shortly before his announcement, officials of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) announced the creation of a transitional presidential council and met with Haitian political leaders and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

One question still looming is whether gangs, which wield much power and have deep ties to the political elite, will allow the new council to take over. Haiti’s most powerful gang leader, former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, rejected any solution led and supported by the international community. Chérizier emphasized that it’s Haitian people who need to choose who will govern.