How a 'BBQ' police officer became the most powerful gang leader in Port-au-Prince

Jimmy Scherizer is the leader of the most powerful gang in Port-au-Prince, the Group of Nine. A stocky man with a friendly manner, he greeted us last July at his stronghold in Delmas 6, wearing a white T-shirt with the words “Happy birthday baby”. He wanted to show us his project: building a school for neighborhood children. “I was born in the districts because it is tradition here for women to go to the countryside to give birth. But since I was nine years old, I have lived in this neighbourhood. Half of the children do not have access to education in Haiti and the state is completely absent from the neighbourhoods. The only schools that exist are paid schools.” The fees are not affordable for most Haitian families, so I decided to give the children in my neighborhood the opportunity to learn.

To enter his neighborhood, a heavy green metal gate blocks the street. Armed security is very discreet but very present. Several armed men…