WASHINGTON — The United States has formally designated two of Haiti’s most notorious armed groups, Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif, as foreign terrorist organizations, citing their central role in escalating violence and political destabilization across the crisis-stricken Caribbean nation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the announcement Friday, declaring that the era of impunity for Haiti’s violent gangs “is over.” The designation marks a sharp escalation in the U.S. response to Haiti’s spiraling security crisis and positions the two gangs among the most dangerous transnational threats to American interests in the region.

“Haitian gangs, including the Viv Ansanm coalition and Gran Grif, are the primary source of instability and violence in Haiti,” Rubio said in a statement. “They are a direct threat to U.S. national security interests in our region. Their ultimate goal is to dismantle Haiti’s transitional government and establish a lawless state where they can operate with total impunity.”

The move follows months of intensifying gang activity in Haiti, where heavily armed groups now control an estimated 85 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The United Nations reported earlier this week that more than 1,600 people — the majority of them gang members — were killed in the first three months of 2025 alone. The humanitarian toll is staggering, with over one million residents forcibly displaced due to gang-related violence, the UN said.

Gangs like Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif have carried out widespread killings, kidnappings, sexual assaults, and other atrocities while exploiting the country’s chronic political vacuum. Their expanding power has overwhelmed Haiti’s underfunded and outgunned police force and paralyzed key sectors of society.

The U.S. has previously designated several transnational criminal groups as terrorist organizations, including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, and the El Salvador-rooted MS-13. The addition of Haitian gangs to this list reflects growing alarm in Washington over the broader regional consequences of Haiti’s collapse into lawlessness.

Haiti has not held a national election since 2016. The country plunged into further turmoil following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, and efforts to restore political stability have faltered. A transitional governing council, formed nearly a year ago, has failed to regain control from the gangs or organize new elections, sparking mass protests in April by residents demanding a return to democratic rule.

Despite the recent deployment of a UN-authorized international security force led by Kenya, there has been little measurable progress on the ground. The force currently includes around 1,000 police officers from six contributing countries—less than half of the 2,500 personnel initially pledged. Experts warn that without a sustained international effort, Haiti’s security forces will remain too weak to confront entrenched criminal networks.

As Washington increases pressure on Haitian gangs through terrorism designations, the Biden administration is also calling for deeper international cooperation and more robust security assistance to help stabilize the country. The designations enable the U.S. government to freeze gang-related assets, ban material support to the groups, and impose travel restrictions on individuals tied to them.

Still, analysts caution that legal sanctions alone will not dismantle Haiti’s criminal infrastructure without a parallel investment in long-term governance, law enforcement, and humanitarian aid.

“The designation of Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif sends a strong signal,” said one regional analyst. “But unless it’s backed by real support for Haiti’s recovery, it risks being symbolic rather than transformative.”