This process began with the establishment of the Tonton Macoute paramilitaries by the dictatorship led by president François Duvalier, used to violently suppress dissidents.

Haitian political actors continued to employ armed groups to defend their interests, manipulate elections and suppress public unrest.

Receiving de facto state support from Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party, the youth gangs took control of entire communes and became increasingly independent-minded.

[47] U.S. diplomat Daniel Lewis Foote argued, "Aristide started [the gangs] on purpose in the early 1980s, as a voice, as a way to get some power [for ordinary Haitians], [...] and they morphed over the years.

[48] According to Sabine Lamour, the protection of politicians accused of rape and abuse during Michel Martelly's administration (2011-2016) was a mirror of the culture of toxic masculinity and misogyny in the street gangs, whose members embodied the "Legal Bandit" he celebrated in his 2008 album Bandi Légal.

[50] The MINUSTAH, a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Haiti started after the end of the 2004 coup d'état, failed to contain the unrest and committed abuses of its own.

[51][52] From 2017 to 2021, Haiti's political leadership became embroiled in a crisis, and the Haitian Parliament entered a deadlock, public administration gradually ceased to operate by a lack of funding, and the judicial system effectively fell apart.

[29] The Vox journalist Ellen Ioanes summarized that "Haiti has faced serious and compounding crises, including a devastating 2010 earthquake, floods, cholera outbreaks, hurricanes, and corrupt, dictatorial, and incompetent leaders".

[40] G-Pep was suspected of connection to various opposition parties, and is funded by the Haitian business magnate Réginald Boulos,[75] and so opposed G9 and its ties to Moïse.

[78] After the death of his suspected ally Moïse, G9 leader Jimmy Chérizier increasingly voiced political ambitions and began to openly oppose the Haitian government of Henry.

On 17 October 2021, G9 forced President Henry to flee an official commemoration event, then began a month-long blockade of the country's largest oil terminal.

Though G9 initially declared that it would lift the blockade only if the government resigned, Henry refused to step down; instead, both sides eventually agreed to a secret deal, and G9 retreated from the oil terminal.

[40] In general, Henry held only limited power, and the U.S. diplomat Daniel Lewis Foote described the Haitian President as "kind of a clown.

[The gangs] in several instances have made him pay them a bunch of money in order for him to attend an event or hold a ceremony — and then they won't let him do it.

[49] From April to May, the Battle of Plaine du Cul-de-Sac was fought between 400 Mawozo and two other gangs, Chen Mechan and G-9 An Fanmi e Alye; the fighting caused about 200 deaths.

[37] In April 2023, three gangs, namely Titanyen, Base 5 Secondes and Canaan, conducted an "offensive" in the Cabaret commune, outside Port-au-Prince, in an attempt to break a blockade imposed by local self-defense groups.

[87][39] Chérizier declared that G9 would resist if an international intervention force committed "human rights abuses" and claimed that it would "be a fight of the Haitian people to save the dignity of our country.

"[29] On 1 November, the Grand Ravine gang, led by Ti Lapli, launched attacks against the Mariani area, killing one police officer and sparking over 2,400 civilians to leave their homes.

[89] On 8 December, the United States Treasury Department announced sanctions placed on four Haitian gang leaders, Johnson André ("Izo"), Renel Destina ("Ti Lapli"), Vitel'Homme Innocent, and Wilson Joseph ("Lanmò San Jou"), for human rights violations.

[90][63] On 12 December, the Haitian National Police launched an operation from Carrefour[91] into Mariani, with an assault involving excavators resulting in the bulldozing and burning down of many houses around the market alleged to have been used by gang members.

[102] Gang leader Jimmy Chérizier released a video stating that he intended to prevent Ariel Henry from returning to Haiti with the operation.

[106] On 2 and 3 March, armed gangs stormed the two largest prisons in Haiti, one in Croix des Bouquets, the other in Port-au-Prince,[107] resulting in more than 4,700 inmates escaping.

[104] On 4 March, at around 1 p.m. local time, armed gangs attacked the heavily fortified Toussaint Louverture International Airport, exchanging gunfire with police and the Haitian Armed Forces in an attempt to take control of the facility after rumors that Henry would return to the country,[111] fueling speculation that an alliance between rival gangs was forming to overthrow the Haitian government.

[115] Later that day, Henry landed at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Puerto Rico in an attempt to return to Haiti to control the violence.

[114] While Henry was abroad making arrangements for 1,000 Kenyan police to arrive in Haiti, fighting erupted in the capital with gangs assaulting several government buildings, including the National Palace.

[120] On 7 March, the state of emergency in the Ouest Department, including a nightly curfew and bans on protests, was extended from three days to a month (3 April).

[132] Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki of Kenya also announced that its police officers are currently in pre-deployment phase, being ready to deploy to Haiti.

[145] The same day a new US Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team was announced to be on the way to protect the US embassy,[146] and a YouTube personality YourFellowArab (Addison Pierre Maalouf) specialized in touring dangerous places was allegedly kidnapped on his way to interview Jimmy Chérizier.

[157] On 29 February 2024, the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 and Allies united with G-Pep to form the Viv Ansanm coalition, which means "Live Together" in Haitian Creole.

In a June 2024 interview, Chérizier spoke regarding the Kenyan police operation in Haiti, saying that the "politicians and oligarchs ... [called in] assassins and mercenaries from Kenya on the pretext that they will crush the gangs and battle Viv Ansanm.