Overview:
Wilfort “Ti Wil” Ferdinand’s killing by police has triggered protests in Gonaïves as envoys—together with three former departmental police administrators and a district delegate—attempt to ease tensions. Police mentioned Ferdinand, a former insurgent and accused human rights abuser, was shot and killed after he opened fireplace at a police checkpoint in Gonaïves on Sept. 16. An incident that has since thrown the northern coastal metropolis into worry as Fernand’s supporters threaten to make life tough in the event that they don’t get justice and reparations.
GONAÏVES — Haitian police envoys flew into Gonaïves on Friday to face offended supporters of Wilfort “Ti Wil” Ferdinand, the previous insurgent commander shot lifeless by officers earlier this week. His killing has reignited outdated wounds within the Artibonite stronghold of previous uprisings, stirring protests and fears of renewed violence.
The delegation—composed of former departmental police administrators Paul Ménard Jean-Louis, Jean Castro Prévil and Max Very important Artiste; and district delegate Marado Clavanet—flew in aboard a United Nations helicopter. Their mission, officers mentioned, was to “pay attention and gather grievances” after police killed Ferdinand, 58, and three different unidentified people throughout a Sept. 16 site visitors cease.
At a closed-door assembly held on the Raboteau Complete Diagnostic Well being Heart, Ferdinand’s allies accused the Artibonite police chief, Jacques Ader, of ordering the deadly operation they referred to as ‘an assassination’.
“We demanded Ader’s dismissal and arrest, in addition to justice and reparations,” mentioned Antoine Cénobe, a detailed ally of Ferdinand.
“However the delegation solely listened. They gave us no commitments. We are going to proceed to mobilize till justice is served.”
Ferdinand was a central determine in Haiti’s fashionable historical past. As chief of the Artibonite Resistance Entrance (FRA), a regional paramilitary group, he helped spearhead the 2004 armed rebel that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He was additionally implicated in human rights abuses throughout and after that battle. He was later jailed for the homicide of a younger lady, earlier than receiving a 2014 pardon from President Michel Martelly.
“We’re not bandits, however activists who need to see this nation change. We are going to proceed to mobilize till justice is served for Ti Wil’s demise.”
Antoine Cénobe, Ferdinand supporter
In current months, residents mentioned, Ferdinand had reemerged in Raboteau, backing land disputes and instructing armed males to fortify neighborhoods forward of protests towards the transitional authorities or police. His supporters painting him as a defender of democracy; critics see him as a violent opportunist who used politics and weapons to defend legal exercise.
As one in all Gonaïves’ influential and unlawful gunmen, Ferdinand acted as an agent for the heirs of the Monpremier and Arnoux households, who’ve claimed giant swathes of land in Labadie and Canal Bois. For a while, these heirs had been in battle with the Géffrard household over roughly 3,000 acres of land, stretching from Gonaïves to the border of Gros-Morne, a neighboring commune.
Ferdinand repeatedly visited the land to stop different households from encroaching on these properties. Following a choice by the Gonaïves Courtroom of First Occasion, the Arnoux and Monpremier households had been approved to implement the judgment towards many households who constructed houses on properties bought from the Géffrard heirs. Nonetheless, a authorities commissioner later requested a pause on imposing the courtroom order— pending an enchantment or a attainable settlement between the events— to stop too many households from changing into homeless after investing 1000’s of {dollars} in houses constructed on the disputed land.
Witnesses mentioned that Ferdinand and his males, killed within the Sept. 16 incident, had been leaving the world when the police reportedly ordered the car to cease. In response to Djery Bien-Aimé, one in all Ferdinand’s combatant companions, echoing the witnesses’ testimonies, the motive force was not given the prospect to conform.
“The officers abruptly opened fireplace on the automotive, killing Ti Will and the opposite individuals,” he lamented.

Dangers of renewed violence
Ferdinand’s killing triggered no less than three protests in Gonaïves, with supporters burning tires and vowing to escalate demonstrations. One other giant march is deliberate for this Monday. “We’re decided to see this by way of,” mentioned supporter Djery Bien-Aimé in an interview with The Haitian Instances. “We won’t let Ti Wil’s demise go unanswered.”
For Risnel Clédanor, an area journalist, the unrest highlights the fragility of safety in Haiti’s Artibonite, a area that has typically been the birthplace of political uprisings. “Gonaïves is stuffed with heavy weapons,” he mentioned. “The danger of escalating armed confrontation with police may be very doubtless and may be very dangerous to weak residents, because it has typically been the case.”
Raboteau, the seaside neighborhood the place Ferdinand constructed his base, has been a stronghold of resistance because the rebellion towards the Duvalier dictatorship within the Nineteen Eighties. It was additionally the positioning of a 1994 bloodbath, through which troopers and paramilitaries killed dozens of civilians— largely Aristide’s supporters.
Police officers acknowledge the stakes. “The state of affairs is delicate,” one senior officer advised The Haitian Instances, talking on the situation of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. “We need to stop this from spiraling into one other cycle of armed mobilization in Raboteau.”
“Police had no intention of killing anybody. Ferdinand had approached the checkpoint in a automotive with tinted home windows solely to again up after which open fireplace on officers, who returned fireplace and killed him and an unidentified particular person touring with him.”
Spokesperson Michel-Ange Louis Jeune
“Police had no intention of killing anybody,” spokesperson Michel-Ange Louis Jeune advised The Related Press. “Ferdinand had approached the checkpoint in a automotive with tinted home windows solely to again up after which open fireplace on officers, who returned fireplace and killed him and an unidentified particular person touring with him.”
Jeune mentioned it was a routine checkpoint geared toward cracking down on the infamous Kokorat San Ras gang, which operates within the Artibonite region and is understood for its excessive violence.
Ugly footage of the killing had been shared on social media, sparking ongoing protests in Gonaïves.
Ferdinand was referred to as Kòmandan Ti Wil and an ally of Guy Philippe, one other former insurgent chief convicted by the US for drug trafficking and cash laundering.
The Haitian Nationwide Police (PNH) has mentioned little publicly past confirming the operation that led to Ferdinand’s demise. The delegation’s go to, nevertheless, alerts recognition that heavy-handed techniques alone may worsen tensions. Analysts be aware that gangs and armed teams in Artibonite could exploit the unrest to develop their affect, as they’ve in different provincial cities.
The Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) has but to remark immediately, however political observers warn that failing to have interaction Ferdinand’s household and supporters may plunge Gonaïves into deeper instability. “This can be a check of whether or not the state can handle dissent with out igniting a rebel,” mentioned Clédanor.
For the federal government, the problem shouldn’t be solely stopping violence but in addition reconciling with Ferdinand’s supporters, a lot of whom nonetheless see him as a political determine reasonably than a legal.
As Antoine Cénobe, one supporter, put it: “We’re residents of Raboteau. We don’t settle for the best way Jacques Ader killed Wilfort Ferdinand. We’re not bandits, however political activists who need to see this nation change.”
Violence within the wider Artibonite continues. On Sunday, Sept. 21, residents of L’Estère reported that the Kokorat San Ras gang looted houses and farms within the Kapenyen locality, killing livestock and forcing dozens to flee. The assault, coming simply days after Ferdinand’s demise, has heightened fears that Haiti’s most fertile area may slip additional into chaos.
Who was Wilfort “Ti Wil” Ferdinand?
- Title: Wilfort Ferdinand, referred to as “Ti Wil”
- Born: c. 1967
- Position in 2004 anti-Lavalas motion: Co-leader of the Artibonite Resistance Entrance, pivotal within the armed rebellion that ousted President Aristide.
- Status: Seen by supporters as a “defender of democracy,” however accused by rights teams of being a infamous abuser.
- Felony report:
- Convicted of murdering a younger lady; pardoned in 2014.
- Served on Haiti’s Disarmament Fee briefly.
- Latest Actions: Chief enforcer in land disputes round Gonaïves; accused of utilizing armed males to deprive individuals of their property.
- Dying: Shot lifeless by police throughout a Sept. 16, 2025 site visitors cease.
Legacy: Polarizing—each a logo of rebel and a determine tied to Haiti’s cycle of violence.