US revokes visa of top Haiti official for alleged gang support, fanning instability

Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald on Nov 25, 2025

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U.S. officials have imposed visa restrictions on a top Haitian government official for allegedly supporting gangs and other criminal organizations and obstructing the Haitian government’s fight against gangs that have been designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The State Department’s decision comes amid intensifying political infighting and maneuvering by members of the ruling transitional presidential council to oust Prime Minister Alix Dider Fils-Aimé, less than there months before the transition is scheduled to end. While Washingon did not provide the name of the official, the Miami Herald has learned it is Fritz Alphonse Jean, a member of the transitional council who represents a group known as the Montana Accord on the council.

Jean expressed surprise and said he had no confirmation of his visa is being revoked by the United States.

Last week, as gangs launched fresh attacks across the capital and Fils-Aimé appeared to he on his way out, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau took to X to issue a public warning to Haiti’s politicians not to test its resolve.

“The U.S. and other countries in the region and around the world have a clear message: enough with gang violence and destruction—and political infighting,” he posted. “Now is the time for Haiti’s leaders to unite against a common threat, and anyone who obstructs Haiti’s path to political stability must expect consequences from the U.S. and others, including visa revocations.”

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti, along with other foreign missions, has grown increasingly impatient with members of the nine-member Transitional Presidential Council as they once again move to oust another prime minister. The council, which has faced allegations of corruption and lack of effectiveness, is set to leave power on Feb. 7. 2026 without having accomplished its main tasks: improving security and returning Haiti to democratic order through elections.

With five of the council’s seven voting members needed to dismiss Fils-Aimé, the U.S. and Canadian embassies have been engaged in trying to halt the move, arguing that a political vacuum would invite more instability at a time armed criminal groups are on the offensive.

On Sunday, gangs fired shots at a domestic aircraft operated by locally owned Sunrise Airways as it approached a runway at Port-au-Prince’s airport. The flight had been arriving from the southern city of Les Cayes. A post-flight inspection reportedly revealed holes in the rudder and elevator, but there were no reports of injuries. The incident prompted Sunrise to temporarily suspend all domestic flights to and from the capital. Later that evening, reports circulated that gangs were preparing to lock down the capital the following day by blocking key roads.

On Monday, however, the city remained relatively calm, and a charter flight even departed from the capital’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport. Meanwhile, Fils-Aimé and members of the nine-member Transitional Presidential Council were locked behind closed doors discussing his fate.

Washington, which recently pushed through the creation of a new “Gang Suppression Force” at the United Nations Security Council, has repeatedly insisted that the era of impunity in Haiti has ended. Landau in his post made it clear that the Trump administration will not tolerate “the calls for open war against the central government.”