“I bought it to defend myself,” said Mizak, a tall, slender man with a relaxed gait.

In Turgeau, some vigilantes walked around with sharpened machetes, like 63-year-old Réné Mizak, who said he was a former Tonton Macoute - a private militia that terrorized Haiti during the dictatorships of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude. Both police and civilians are fighting against an estimated seven major gang coalitions that operate in Haiti, along with some 200 affiliated groups. Police have arrested more than 2,700 suspected criminals and seized dozens of weapons since launching an operation dubbed “Tornado” in January to target gangs, but they are often overwhelmed. Haiti’s National Police has only some 9,000 active officers for a country of more than 11 million people.

special envoy for Haiti, told The Associated Press that, “Haiti truly can’t take it anymore.” In October, Prime Minister Ariel Henry requested the immediate deployment of an international military force to quell gang violence, but neither the U.N. In April alone, more than 600 people were reported killed, compared with a total of 846 people slain in the first three months of the year. More than 1,630 people were killed, wounded or kidnapped in Haiti in the first three months of the year, a nearly 30% increase compared with the previous quarter, according to a report issued in May by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti.

“If the people doing bwa kale didn’t stand up, it could’ve been worse,” she said. Kettia, a short woman with a soft demeanor, tries to stay strong for her 4-year-old and 1-year-old, but they keep wondering if the gang will return. Kettia, a resident who provided only her first name to protect her and her family, said that the gang snatched her husband, forced him to lead them out of the neighborhood, and used him as a shield as they exchanged fire with police. They looted,” said Kenson Dimanche, a volunteer who controls one of the barricades. The bwa kale movement gained momentum in Turgeau after residents said the gang launched a pre-dawn attack in late April, killing nearly a dozen people. Turgeau is under siege by a gang known as “5 Seconds,” because that’s supposedly how long it takes them to kill someone. “It’s a good movement, but at the same time, the innocent are paying for the guilty,” Cégaire said, adding that he left Port-au-Prince because he feared the gang violence and the bwa kale movement.

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