Canada unveiled a fresh round of sanctions against members of Haiti’s economic elite on Monday, accusing three high-profile individuals of aiding armed gangs that have thrown the country into turmoil.
The Ottawa government said it would freeze any assets that Gilbert Bigio, Reynold Deeb and Sherif Abdallah hold within Canada.
“Canada has reason to believe these individuals are using their status as high-profile members of the economic elite in Haiti to protect and enable the illegal activities of armed criminal gangs, including through money laundering and other acts of corruption,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Canada has already sanctioned senior members of Haiti’s political class, including a former president, Michel Martelly, and former prime minister, Laurent Lamothe.
Gangs have ravaged the Caribbean nation ever since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021, blocking access to basic necessities and spreading violence throughout the country.
The United States has also imposed sanctions on Haitian individuals, including current and former Haitian senators on Friday. But Washington has been more constrained in who it sanctions, with many top Haitian officials and power brokers enjoying U.S. immigration status and complementary legal protections.
But Canada’s sanctions against Deeb, Bigio and Abadallah come as the members of Haiti’s economic elite come under greater scrutiny by the Canadian and U.S. governments. In some cases, the United States has revoked visas and launched investigations into their economic activities.
In anticipation of sanctions, some members of the private sector, including Bigio, have been meeting in Miami and Haiti under the auspices of a new entity called the Macaya group. While their objective is still unclear — members have declined to publicly comment — there have been discussions about coming up with a 10-year investment plan for the country and weighing in on the political paralysis.
Recently, members of the group met with former British diplomat Jonathan Powell, who traveled to Haiti. The former chief of staff for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Powell is considered an experienced negotiator who has been involved in several high-profile conflicts over the years.
Bigio, a billionaire, is one of the richest men in the Caribbean region, with businesses in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He was featured in the Pandora Papers, a massive leak of secret offshore company documents.
His purchase of Jeffrey Epstein’s $132,000 Mercedes Maybach was buried at the end of a 418-page document accounting for the estate’s finances in the third quarter of 2020. While a well-known power broker in Haiti, Bigio, 86, has receded from public life and most of his business dealings are handled by his son, Reuven, chairman of the GB Group.
Until recently, the younger Bigio appeared to be supporting a presidential comeback by former Haitian President Martelly. But following the announcement of sanctions, Bigio and others in Haiti’s private sectors have been meeting to come to some new agreement, even agreeing to sit down with business rivals over dinner to discuss Haiti’s future.
Among the GB Group’s business dealings in Haiti is the Lafito Port, a private port that has been targeted by gangs in recent weeks and has been unable to unload thousands of containers since mid-September, after a powerful gang coalition took over the country’s key fuel terminal, Varreux, to the north. The younger Bigio lives in Miami.
Abdallah was a close associate of Haitian President Moise and was heavily involved in Moise’s 2017 election, meeting with members of the diplomatic corps and facilitating meetings between ambassadors and the late president. However, his alleged ties to Haiti’s rising gang violence and affiliates between gangs and the power structure have been under scrutiny for some time.
Deeb is one of the country’s leading importers and a huge patron of political candidates. He has been known to finance both candidates and their opponents. But as Haiti’s customs revenue have come under greater scrutiny — the country loses $600 million in uncollected customs duties a year — so too has Deeb’s business dealings. He is a U.S. resident alien who splits his time between Haiti and Miami.
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