The United States and the United Nations slapped sanctions on the former head of Haitian presidential security and the leader of a Haitian gang on Friday for their roles in criminal gang activities that have destabilised the impoverished Caribbean nation. The US Treasury Department said the two men supported a coalition of gangs that the Trump administration designated as a foreign terrorist organisation earlier this year.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution hours later, ordering all 193 UN member nations to freeze the men`s assets and impose a travel ban. The resolution also imposes an arms embargo on Haiti. The sanctions were placed on Dimitri Herard, who was head of presidential security when President Jovenal Moise was assassinated in 2021. He was imprisoned in connection with the assassination. After he escaped from prison in 2024, he "colluded" with Haiti`s most powerful gang coalition, Viv Ansanm, Treasury said in a statement.