🪖 Erik Prince’s costly mercenary force fails to deliver on Haiti’s security promises

Blackwater founder Erik Prince, who made his fortune offering security services worldwide, often outside the law, has been selling Haiti a high-tech mercenary solution to its gang crisis, but the country remains trapped in violence, reports CNN.

Prince’s private force, Vectus Global, was hired by Haiti’s interim government last year for a mission to hunt gangs.

His task force paired foreign contractors with elite local police to unleash more than 2,000 drone strikes since March last year.

While some gang positions have reportedly been disrupted, the promised turnaround has not arrived.

➡️ vital road from Cap-Haitien to Port-au-Prince still sits under gang checkpoints more than 18 months after Prince said it would be freed within a year

➡️ international flights remain grounded for risk of being shot down over gang territory

➡️ general elections, once set for December, have been postponed indefinitely

➡️ gangs have simply shifted outward into farming communities that feed the country

➡️ forcible recruitment of children has tripled, with minors now making up 30–50 % of many groups

➡️ civilian casualties from the drone campaign stand at least at 85 dead according to UN tallies

➡️ over 1.5 million Haitians - roughly one-tenth of the population - remain internally displaced

Local human-rights advocates describe the expensive foreign presence as largely ineffective: no major gang leaders have been eliminated, armed groups still flaunt weapons and money online.

Prince refuses to name his fee, only claiming it is a fraction of earlier multinational missions, while securing a decade-long deal for a cut of future border customs revenue.

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