PORT-AU-PRINCE — A United Nations group has accused former Haitian Senator Jean-Charles Moïse of exercising vital political and financial management over the nation’s profitable glass eel commerce and main a bootleg export community linked to broader smuggling operations throughout the Caribbean.
In a September report to the UN Safety Council, shared on Wednesday by the U.N. Built-in Workplace in Haiti (BINUH), the UN Panel of Consultants on Haiti mentioned Moïse’s community influences the issuance of glass eel export permits, customs oversight and different components of the availability chain, from harvesting to commercialization.
The specialists mentioned their findings had been based mostly on investigations performed between October 2025 and July 2026, together with missions in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Miami. The report covers investigations by means of July 10.
“By means of his actions, Moïse contributes to the weakening of the Haitian economic system whereas facilitating regional prison smuggling networks,” the panel mentioned.
The findings from the panel validate earlier accounts relating to the previous senator’s position in contraband eel operations.
In June 2025, the Haitian Community of Anti-Corruption Journalists (RHAJAC) publicly accused Moïse and several other different figures of exercising affect over the glass eel sector. In July 2025, RHAJAC urged United Nations investigators to launch a “checklist of criminals concerned within the eel commerce” in Haiti.
A profitable however poorly regulated commerce
Glass eels — younger American eels additionally recognized in Haiti as zangi or tizangi — are among the many nation’s most dear pure sources. The U.N. panel mentioned a kilogram can promote for $3,000 to $5,000 on worldwide markets, whereas Haitian fishermen obtain between 34 cents and $1.70 per kilogram for his or her treasured commerce, highlighting the large hole between what Haitians make and the costs paid farther alongside the worldwide provide chain.
That disparity has helped make glass eel fishing an more and more vital supply of earnings for coastal communities whereas attracting prison and politically linked networks.
Based on customs information reported by Ayibopost, Haiti exported greater than 173,500 tons of eel price almost $13 million in 2022–2023, up 45% from the 12 months earlier than, largely to Asian markets. This doesn’t embrace illicit exports by smugglers. No reviews past 2023 have been made accessible.
Haiti’s fishing season runs from September by means of March. The Ministry of Agriculture, Pure Assets and Rural Growth (MARNDR) points export permits yearly.
The worldwide specialists described the sector as poorly regulated, opaque and weak to corruption. Haiti just isn’t a celebration to the Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which the report mentioned leaves the commerce extra liable to illicit exercise. The report additionally added that the absence of a functioning Parliament prevents Haiti from finishing the method wanted to accede to the conference.
The sector has additionally confronted allegations involving the Nationwide Affiliation for the Safety of Aquatic Assets (ANAPRA), an affiliation of licensed exporters. Earlier reporting by AyiboPost discovered that Haiti’s authorities issued a comparatively small variety of export licenses and that ANAPRA members dominated the licensed commerce. The affiliation has rejected allegations of illicit exercise.
Worldwide demand for American eel has grown sharply in recent times, notably in East Asia. Analysis printed in Marine Coverage discovered that Hong Kong imported 100.6 metric tons of stay eel fry from Haiti in 2022, making Haiti a serious supply of glass eels getting into the Asian market, together with notably in China and Japan.
Panel alleges management over permits and customs and a community extending past Haiti
The U.N. panel mentioned sources informed investigators that Moïse’s community helps decide who works within the authorities workplace that points glass eel export permits.
The report additionally mentioned Moïse exerts political and financial affect over the glass eel sector and the ministry accountable for issuing export permits, in addition to customs officers who oversee exports.
The panel additional alleged that Moïse pressured some customs officers to facilitate tax fraud and that officers who refused his calls for had been transferred.
Some former associates who had been denied permits later turned opponents, based on the report.
The panel mentioned it based mostly these findings on interviews with confidential sources, authorities officers, former exporters and others aware of the sector.
Moïse didn’t reply to The Haitian Instances’ request for touch upon the U.N. specialists’ statements about him.
The panel mentioned its investigation discovered that Moïse’s alleged community extends into the Dominican Republic and different components of the Caribbean.
Throughout the 2024-25 fishing season, investigators spoke with one in every of Moïse’s former glass eel suppliers, a ship proprietor and a glass eel dealer based mostly within the Dominican Republic. Based on the report, they described how the community continued transferring glass eels out of Haiti after the Federal Aviation Administration suspended flights between Port-au-Prince and the USA.
The panel mentioned Moïse as a substitute mobilized a community in northern Haiti involving Haitian customs officers and Dominican boat homeowners. The boats allegedly offered transportation for glass eels leaving Haiti.
The report additionally alleges that Moïse’s community mixed glass eels obtained from illicit suppliers in Haiti and elsewhere within the area earlier than exporting them as completely Haitian in origin.
In June 2026, customs authorities in an unnamed U.N. member state informed the panel they’d confirmed two circumstances of stay glass eel smuggling between October and December 2024. The shipments lacked required export and customs documentation, based on the report.
The panel mentioned its investigation indicated that the 2 circumstances had been a part of a broader collection of exports linked to Moïse’s community in the course of the 2024-25 fishing season.
The glass eel investigation is one a part of the panel’s broader examination of illicit monetary flows, organized crime and political affect in Haiti.
Apart from Moïse, the report additionally names different political figures in reference to alleged corruption, gang financing and different actions. It mentioned the nation’s weak establishments and restricted regulatory capability proceed to create alternatives for illicit networks.
For a useful resource that may command 1000’s of {dollars} per kilogram on worldwide markets whereas fishermen obtain lower than $2 per kilogram, the findings spotlight each the financial worth of Haiti’s pure sources and the challenges the nation faces in making certain that these sources generate reliable income for the state and coastal communities.
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