Hold onto your hats, folks—U.S. Marines guarding our embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, found themselves in a real-life action movie, trading gunfire with suspected gang members on a tense Thursday.
According to the Daily Caller, the incident, unfolding on November 13, 2025, is just the tip of the iceberg in a city gripped by gang control, with a notorious leader issuing chilling warnings, a U.S. Embassy security alert, and international staff ducking for cover.
Let’s rewind to that Thursday clash—our brave Marines dodged bullets and returned fire against suspected gangsters near the embassy, thankfully emerging unscathed.
No injuries were reported among the troops, a small mercy in a city where over 90% of the streets are under gang dominance, extorting businesses and battling each other with ruthless abandon.
Haitian police, meanwhile, stayed mum on the incident, leaving questions hanging as the Associated Press sought answers with no luck.
Just two days later, on November 15, 2025, gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier dropped a bombshell video, urging folks to hunker down starting the following Monday to avoid becoming “victims” of violence.
Chérizier, who fancies himself the head of Viv Ansanm—a group branded a terrorist outfit by the U.S. State Department—didn’t mince words in his chilling message.
“In a video released on the evening of November 15, 2025, Jimmy Cherisier, alias ‘Barbecue,’ presenting himself as the president and spokesperson of ‘Viv Ansanm,’ a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, urged the population to stay home starting Monday, November 17, ‘so as not to become victims,’” according to a translated caption from KAPZY News.
“He claims that the battle has now begun and that members of ‘Viv Ansanm’ will occupy the streets to confront the police,” the caption continued. Now, isn’t that a bold declaration from someone leading a group labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization since May 2, 2025? If street battles are the “solution” here, one wonders how many innocents will pay the price.
By November 17, 2025, the U.S. Embassy wasn’t taking chances, issuing a security alert and scaling back staff in Port-au-Prince as tensions skyrocketed. Across town, the United Nations got the memo too, with security directing staff to work remotely due to alleged gang threats, as a UN spokesperson confirmed to Fox News.
These aren’t empty warnings when you consider Viv Ansanm and another gang, Gran Grif, have been flagged as global terrorist entities by the U.S., a designation not handed out for good behavior.
Amid the chaos, Haiti’s gang suppression efforts have kicked into gear, with the Haitian National Police, military, and a Kenya-led security unit targeting notorious crews like 400 Mawozo and Chen Mechan, hitting their leaders and hideouts hard, per the Miami Herald.
But pushback was swift—Viv Ansanm leaders allegedly vowed to shut down the entire nation in retaliation, a threat that sounds less like governance and more like a gangster’s tantrum.
While progressive voices might argue for “understanding” the root causes of such violence, let’s not kid ourselves—when gangs control nine-tenths of a capital city, extorting and terrorizing, it’s not a cry for help; it’s a crisis demanding firm action, not endless empathy. Haiti’s people deserve safety, not platitudes, and our Marines shouldn’t be dodging bullets while the world debates “context.”