On October 17, 2025, the United States and the United Nations took decisive action against two of Haiti’s most notorious figures—Dimitri Herard, the former head of presidential security, and Kempes Sanon, the leader of the Bel Air gang—by imposing a stringent package of sanctions. The move, announced in tandem by the U.S. Treasury Department and the United Nations Security Council, comes as Haiti grapples with an escalating crisis: violent gangs now control nearly all of Port-au-Prince, the capital, and the country has been plunged into a state of lawlessness since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
The sanctions target Herard, who was at the helm of presidential security during Moise’s assassination and later imprisoned in connection with the killing. In a dramatic twist, Herard escaped from prison in 2024 during a mass jailbreak and, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, quickly allied himself with Viv Ansanm—a powerful coalition of gangs that the Trump administration designated as a foreign terrorist organization earlier in 2025. The U.N. Security Council’s unanimous resolution orders all 193 member nations to freeze Herard’s assets, ban his travel, and enforce an arms embargo on Haiti, a measure intended to choke off the flow of weapons that continues to fuel the gangs’ rise.
Sanon, the other figure sanctioned, leads the Bel Air gang, a group estimated to have around 150 members and a stronghold in the Bel Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. Once a bastion of resistance against the notorious gang alliance led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, Bel Air fell under Sanon’s control and soon joined the Viv Ansanm coalition. This alliance, according to the U.S. and U.N., has been responsible for some of the worst violence in recent Haitian memory—including a string of massacres, widespread extortion, kidnappings, and sexual assaults. The coalition’s consolidation of power has been marked by terror, with gangs now holding sway over 90% of the capital and expanding their reach into rural areas.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime reports that the gangs’ firepower is largely sustained by a steady influx of sophisticated weapons trafficked into Haiti, primarily from the United States and especially from ports in Florida. The porous land border with the Dominican Republic provides another route for arms smuggling, despite international efforts to clamp down. The new sanctions aim to stymie these channels by freezing assets, banning travel, and imposing a strict arms embargo. Yet, as Haiti’s U.N. representative Ericq Pierre told the Security Council, “Haiti views the sanctions regime as an effective instrument of deterrence and justice, if it is properly applied and respected.” He added, “Given the current situation, the results are mixed. Haiti continues to be regularly supplied with heavy weapons and ammunition coming from abroad. We therefore make an urgent appeal to every state, particularly Haiti’s neighbors, to exercise utmost vigilance in controlling the transfer of arms.”
Sanon’s criminal résumé, as outlined by the U.N. and U.S. authorities, is extensive. Beyond his leadership of the Bel Air gang, he is accused of extortion, kidnapping, illicit taxation, and other human rights violations. The U.N. resolution notes that Sanon “maintains a network of individuals within governmental institutions, including security agencies, which enables him to evade arrest and facilitate his criminal activities.” Sanon himself escaped from prison in 2021, where he had been incarcerated for kidnapping, theft, and assassination. Since then, he has continued to destabilize Haiti through his actions and has played a pivotal role in consolidating the power of the Viv Ansanm gang alliance.
Herard’s role, meanwhile, is equally troubling. U.S. officials accuse him of facilitating the trafficking of arms and ammunition to Haitian gangs, providing “training and firearms” to gang leaders, and directly supporting Viv Ansanm’s coordinated attacks against state institutions. The U.N. Security Council’s resolution singles him out as a key enabler of the violence and chaos that has engulfed Haiti in recent years. “Today’s action underscores the critical role of gang leaders and facilitators like Herard and Sanon, whose support enables Viv Ansanm’s campaign of violence, extortion, and terrorism in Haiti,” wrote Bradley T. Smith, director of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, in a statement.
The context for these sanctions is grim. Since President Moise’s assassination in 2021, Haiti has lacked a president and seen its institutions steadily erode. Gangs have filled the vacuum, waging a brutal conflict with the police and each other. Over 1.3 million people have been displaced, and thousands have been killed in the violence, according to multiple reports from Reuters and the Associated Press. The international community has tried to support Haiti’s beleaguered police force, including plans for a security deployment, but these efforts have largely stalled due to lack of resources and contributions. In the meantime, the sanctions are seen as a critical (if imperfect) tool to disrupt the financial and logistical networks that sustain the gangs.
Yet, not everyone is convinced the sanctions will have an immediate or dramatic effect. Analysts caution that such measures often have limited impact when the targeted individuals lack significant assets abroad. The hope is that, by cutting off access to international financial systems and travel, the sanctions will at least hinder the ability of Herard, Sanon, and their networks to operate with impunity. “Since his escape from prison in 2024, Herard has colluded with the Viv Ansanm (gang) alliance and provided support to many of the gang leaders with training and firearms,” the Treasury Department stated, emphasizing the ongoing threat posed by his activities.
Sanon and his gang have also been implicated in “indiscriminate civilian killings, extortion, illicit taxation, and kidnappings in Haiti,” the Treasury added. Their crimes have contributed to a climate of fear and instability that has made daily life in Port-au-Prince and beyond almost unrecognizable. The Bel Air neighborhood, once a symbol of resistance, now stands as a stark example of how quickly power can shift in the city’s violent underworld.
Herard, for his part, has faced persistent rumors since his 2024 escape of involvement in drug trafficking—a key source of funding for Haiti’s gangs—but has publicly denied these allegations in recent video messages. Whether or not the sanctions will force him and Sanon out of the shadows remains to be seen.
For many Haitians, the latest round of sanctions is a sign that the world is paying attention, even as the country’s crisis deepens. But as Ericq Pierre’s remarks to the U.N. Security Council make clear, real progress will depend on the international community’s willingness to enforce the embargo and clamp down on the arms flows that sustain the gangs. Until then, the struggle for control of Haiti’s streets—and the fate of its people—hangs in the balance.