In a significant shake-up, Haitian leaders have removed Frantz Elbé from his position as director of Haiti’s National Police. Elbé faced months of criticism for his alleged failure to adequately protect officers from escalating gang violence.
The Associated Press reports that Normil Rameau, a former police chief, will return to lead the struggling and under-resourced police force. A recent U.N. report highlights that the department operates with only around 4,000 active officers at any given time in a nation of over 11 million people. Rameau, dismissed nearly four years ago under a different administration, now steps back into his former role.
Haiti has seen a surge in violence, with over 2,500 casualties reported in the first quarter of this year alone due to gang activity. Among the victims are nearly two dozen police officers, outgunned and overwhelmed by gangs controlling 80% of Port-au-Prince. The most recent attack claimed the lives of three officers from an anti-gang tactical unit, while a fourth remains missing.
Between 2015 and 2024, more than 320 police officers have been killed, with 120 of those deaths occurring under Elbé’s leadership, according to a survey released this week by the local nonprofit group National Network for the Defense of Human Rights.
Rameau’s appointment comes as a newly selected prime minister and Cabinet takes the reins of Haiti’s government with a transitional presidential council at their side.
A welcomed return for Rameau
Rameau’s reappointment coincides with the installation of a new prime minister, a new Cabinet, and a transitional presidential council. Previously, Rameau served as the director-general of the police under the late President Jovenel Moïse, who appointed him in August 2019. Before that, he led the detective division. Rameau was ousted in November 2020 after Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe accused him of incompetence and failing to curb gang expansion.
Haiti’s Office of Citizen Protection has welcomed Rameau’s return, urging him to quickly implement strategies to combat gang violence and restore security. They have also called for police to pressure judicial authorities to investigate the killings of citizens, including journalists, and to probe the dramatic escape of more than 4,500 prisoners in March after gangs attacked Haiti’s largest prisons. The office criticized Elbé and former ministers of justice and public security for their “complete indifference” during the prison breaks.
Police unions in Haiti have consistently demanded Elbé’s resignation and arrest, pointing to the destruction of at least 30 police stations and substations by gangs since February 29. These attacks on critical state infrastructure contributed to the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
Last year, under Elbé, at least 36 officers were killed in gang-related violence from January to mid-August, according to a U.N. report.
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