The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on October 17, 2025, against two Haitian individuals, Dimitri Herard and Kempes Sanon, for their support of the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which the United States had previously designated as a foreign terrorist organization in May 2025.
Herard, a former police officer and head of presidential security implicated in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, escaped from prison in March 2024 and subsequently provided training, firearms, and logistical support to Viv Ansanm leaders.
Sanon, leader of the Bel Air gang (a Viv Ansanm affiliate with around 150 members), has been involved in extortion, kidnappings, massacres (including a 2023 incident that killed at least 148 people), and maintaining corrupt ties within Haitian government institutions to evade capture.
The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution the same day, expanding the related measures and adding both men to its sanctions list.
These sanctions, imposed under Executive Order 13224 (as amended), designate Herard and Sanon as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), freezing any assets they hold in the United States and prohibiting U.S. persons or entities from conducting transactions with them.
The UN measures extend this globally, requiring all 193 member states to implement asset freezes and travel bans, while also renewing an arms embargo on Haiti to stem the flow of weapons that fuels gang violence.
For individuals, this limits their financial mobility, access to international networks, and ability to operate freely, potentially isolating them from corrupt alliances within Haiti’s security forces and political elites.
For Viv Ansanm, the designations seek to disrupt arms trafficking and logistical support, as Herard’s involvement included facilitating the supply of weapons and simulating official vehicles for gang operations. The broader implications include increased international scrutiny of arms flows, particularly from the United States and Florida, countries identified by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as primary sources of sophisticated weapons entering Haiti.
The immediate consequences for Haiti include potential reductions in gang capacity, as these sanctions target the main facilitators of Viv Ansanm’s control over 90% of Port-au-Prince and its expansion into rural areas, which has displaced more than 1.4 million people and caused thousands of deaths through indiscriminate violence, extortion, and human rights abuses such as sexual assault and looting.
However, challenges remain in their implementation. The Haitian government has been criticized for its inaction against the sanctioned figures, and questions remain about whether individuals like Herard and Sanon can continue to participate in politics or elections under Haitian law.
The measures could strain symbiotic relationships between gangs and certain economic or political elites, who provide cover or resources in exchange for influence, potentially leading to internal fractures within Viv Ansanm or changes in gang dynamics.
At the international level, the sanctions reinforce US and UN commitments to stabilize Haiti amid ongoing crises, including the absence of a president since Moïse’s assassination in 2021.
However, they highlight shortcomings, such as the failure to explicitly address the widespread sexual and gender-based violence used as a weapon by gangs (including forced marriages, assaults, and human trafficking).
Authorities note that while these measures alleviate some of the suffering, they may not completely stem insecurity without stricter controls on arms transfers from neighboring states.
U.S. and UN officials conclude that these sanctions are a crucial step toward holding accountable those facilitating terrorism and gang violence in Haiti, underscoring the need to expand the designations to address more enablers of insecurity.
OFAC’s Bradley T. Smith emphasized the U.S. commitment to dismantling these networks, while U.S. Ambassador Jennifer Locetta called for greater support from the council, stating that “Haiti deserves better” and pledging to collaborate with stakeholders on peace.
The representative of Panama highlighted the “symbiotic relationship” between elites and gangs as a root cause, suggesting that sanctions alone are insufficient if these ties are not addressed.
Overall, the actions indicate a sustained international effort toward accountability and stabilization, but experts warn that without effective law enforcement by the Haitian government, comprehensive gun control, and metrics for gender-based violence, the gangs’ influence could persist, prolonging the chaos in neighborhoods like Delmas and Bel Air ahead of the planned elections.
