Armed Bandits Take Over Valley That Was Long Haiti's Breadbasket
Decades after rice tariff dropped, agriculture struggles; in economic void, gangs thrive in capital and countryside
Farmers work in a rice field near Saint-Marc, Haiti on June 1, 2019.
Photographer: Federico Rios/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
In Haiti’s historic breadbasket, a dozen farmers worked in ankle-deep water, stooped under a piercing blue sky in a lush region dominated for generations by rice fields, and more recently by roving bands of armed men.
The gunmen, linked to an infamous gang leader named Arnel Joseph, have been waylaying travelers in the Artibonite Valley, driving out police and even holding press conferences proudly displaying their firepower.