Panel urges U.S. action to curb weapons flow and investigate political ties between gangs and elites in Haiti

Congressman Jim McGovern, chairing the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission briefing on Haiti, and three panelists warned that illicit weapons and political collusion are central to the country’s escalating violence and urged concrete international measures to disrupt the supply and finances that sustain gangs.

The panel said the scale of gang firepower and the degree of political protection mean military suppression alone will not resolve the crisis. "We know that most of these weapons originate in The United States," McGovern said, summarizing evidence cited in the briefing. Melina Alicia Cholier (introduced in the program) / Velina Shawille (self-identified as a member of a Haitian civil society organization) told commissioners, "They are armed with US made weapons and ammunition that are trafficked to ports, the Dominican Republic border, and other places…