A private security company run by Blackwater founder Erik Prince will send hundreds of fighters to violence-racked Haiti to combat the country’s gang violence problem and restore its tax collection system, according to United States media reports.Prince, a controversial figure who is a major donor to Donald Trump, revealed details of the new mission for his company, Vectus Global, in an interview with the Reuters news agency on Thursday. A person with knowledge of the plans also confirmed details to The Associated Press news agency.Prince told Reuters that he expected Vectus Global, his US-based private security firm, which provides logistics, infrastructure and defence, would regain control of gang-held roads and territory in Haiti within about a year.“One key measure of success for me will be when you can drive from Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haitien in a thin-skinned vehicle and not be stopped by gangs,” he told the news agency.He said the company would also be involved in creating and implementing a system to tax products crossing Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic once security was restored. Gang leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier and his men pictured in Port-au-Prince in 2024 [File: Clarens Siffroy/AFP]‘Several hundred’ personnelFor years, Haiti has been plagued by violence and insecurity as powerful armed gangs, often with ties to political and business leaders, have vied for influence and territorial control – a situation that worsened dramatically after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise …
