Gangs forced out Haiti’s government. This FBI ‘Most Wanted’ gang leader claims they’re liberating the country

Vitel’homme Innocent’s picture on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list of fugitives suggests a crazed man – eyes wide and wild, teeth bared. It’s the photo you might expect for a gang leader accused of destabilizing a nation, who claims to be under divine protection and who has a $2 million bounty on his head for alleged kidnappings.

In person, he projects a different image, at least to guests. Powerful, yes, surrounded by armed acolytes who jump at his glance – but also carefully solicitous, with a cooler full of sandwiches for his visitors, and a tendency to wax philosophical in conversation.

After weeks of negotiations, CNN entered Haiti’s gangland earlier this month to speak with Innocent, whose armed group Kraze Baryé is among the allied armed groups that have plunged Haiti into a crisis of lawlessness. He is an influential voice among the country’s gang leadership, and one who believes that peace must be restored. But under what conditions?

On the edge of the Tabarre district of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince last week, a truck led us through a warren of twisting dirt roads, passing checkpoints manned by armed guards in balaclavas and Halloween masks. We bumped through what was once a well-heeled neighborhood; pink bougainvillea still spilled over high walls and a green soccer field opened onto glorious views of the city below.