richest families in haiti richest families in haiti

All Rights Reserved. Prsidents des pays It has to be that way, theyd argue. $5,000., She describes it as looking for ways of compensating for the non-aggression. She does not believe in cash donations because they will use them to buy ammunition, so she donates goods that cannot be used to hunt me or people like me.. Rescuers pulled her from the rubble. Two days later, a friend called Saleh to tell him that there were rumors of an attack against his warehouse. In Armani eyeglasses and Hugo Boss jeans, with a Mont Blanc pen in his shirt pocket, Mevs climbed into the armored SUV one day this week and escorted two reporters through some of the damaged parts of his empire. She is not starving, not struggling for survival in so many ways, she is unlike the migrants who are fleeing Haitis misery. Its an unfair and outdated image, he argued. Walton family members have sold $6 billion worth of shares this year. Mevs is wealthy -- in so many ways, she is unlike the migrants who are fleeing Haitis misery. When Moises government began to fall apart, she decided she could no longer talk about they and them when she referred to her own country: Because I belong to the caste, I know what the caste has done to this country and what the country is doing to my caste.. And sometimes, a payoff is not enough to guarantee protection. Now Latortue is waiting for the party nomination and Mevs is running his campaign. He speaks blithely of a possible civil war of the poor against the rich and powerful foreign families who own Haiti. They opened the doors and left.. Histoire Actuelle d'Hati This story is part of a series, Haiti: Business, Politics and Gangs, produced with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Posie et Socit Haiti remains the poorest country in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region and among the poorest countries in the world. 5. No, he insists. Oswald Brandt has great importance in Haitian history. The Biggios came from the Middle Eastern while the Madsens are rooted in Denmark. The last day I went to the warehouse I was preparing the food I used to leave for the gang every two weeks cans of tomatoes, cartons of spaghetti, oil, beans, 20 sacks of rice. Mevs house, next door to the prime ministers, was damaged, and he and his family have been camping at a friends house, sleeping on their lawn. They charge you, one way or the other, for protection, but instead of protecting you against other gangs or even the police, they turn against you., Magalie Dresse lives in an elegant home in the heart of Port-au-Prince, with a well-tended garden where she does yoga in the morning. It was from Jimmy Cherizier -- aka Barbecue, a former policeman who leads the G9 gang coalition which controls the coastal strip of Port-au-Prince. They call themselves a self-defense group. Saleh lost $3.5 million in goods over three days, as thousands of people directed by Barbecue and a colleague disassembled his warehouse box by box, bag by bag, shelf by shelf. Instead, Dresse says the solution is citizenship. Hermes: $94.6 billion Who is the richest family in the world of all time? By SALLY HO September 25, 2021 GMT. Oswan Brandt, One of the Richest families in Haiti, Clifford Brandt, Haiti Prominent Businessman's son arrested for Kidnapping , Francois Nicolas Duvalier reacted on recent riots in Haiti, Immigrant child crying as she is separated from parents, Lettre de Michele Bennett Duvalier a Marc Antoine Acra, Jojo Lorquet, former representative of President Martelly, arrested for fraud, Wheat fortification recommended for women and children in Haiti, Obeah is to Jamaican what Voodoo is to Haitian, Dr. Michaelle Amedee Gedeon died due to lack of emergency care in Haiti, Port-Au-Prince, One of the Largest Cities in the World without a Sewage System. Topmost10 presents a profile of the richest people in Haiti, 2021. As a nonprofit journalism organization, we depend on your support to fund more than 170 reporting projects every year on critical global and local issues. Canadian Government Sanctions Against Bigio, "Canada levies new sanctions against Haiti's economic elite", "FWT: Miami Herald Pandora Papers: A mega wealthy man from the region's poorest country and his Miami palace", "Around the Jewish World As Haiti Burns, Its Few Jews Choose Business over Politics", "Two Haitian Jews working with IDF to help survivors", "Sanctions: Grave breach of international peace and security in Haiti", "Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (Haiti) Regulations", "Canada imposes sanctions on Haitian economic elites", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gilbert_Bigio&oldid=1134154865, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 07:20. He received the first drawing prize at the Junior Seminary of St-Martial College in 1966. Haitians sometimes refer to them as the Bambam, each letter the initial of one of the six families. Having lost their meal ticket the government the gangs have become independent predators. He checked the cameras online and they were off. Like others of her caste, she traces her roots to ancestors who came to Haiti generations ago from Europe and the Middle East and built fortunes. What was the richest colony in the west indies and maybe in all of history? As of Wednesday, the majority seemed bent on the latter, pledging to do what it takes to get Haiti back on its feet. An Interview with Patrick James. Carrying a gun, he enters shacks without permission and does not say hello to the people living there before launching into diatribes about their living conditions. Pay the price, no problems. At the end of the day, she holds a cocktail party for friends and associates, and they swap stories about the impossibility of business life in a gangster nation. But in the meantime, Mevs has to deal with him. They call themselves a self-defense group. When deposed president Jean-Bertrand Aristide ruled early in this century, he also created his own armed gang, the chimres, based in Cit Soleil. She wants her daughters to join those families moving abroad while the future of the country is settled. And that choice is the story of many companies in Haiti.. If I did that, they would have killed me by now, he says. For ACRA education is the key to unlock a better and brighter future. Eric Jean Baptiste. Even if so, Latortue cannot be tied publicly to the shipment. Most of Haitis food and gasoline flows through his domain, and he can stop it with a single word. }); Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse. Well, kind of, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, Elliott: Kings use their heads over hearts in trading Jonathan Quick, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids, Video shows Memphis jailers beating Black inmate before his death, Skin lesion removed from President Bidens chest last month was cancerous, doctor says, CPAC shows the GOP has deep divisions heading into 2024, Abortion clinics crossing state borders not always welcome, Black Vietnam veteran awarded Medal of Honor after decades-long wait. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Youri Mevs knew that the call was coming, and she was terrified. For decades, Haiti was ruled by political strongmen supported by armed gangs; with Moises killing, the state collapsed and the gangs were unbound. Women were gang-raped, and entire neighborhoods were burned, displacing thousands. In 1973, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts. Story They vacation in Europe. Donate any amounttoday to become a Pulitzer Center Champion and receive exclusive benefits! In 2016 she met Youri Latortue, a veteran politician who was then president of the Senate. He denies it all, and has never been formally accused. He has been an avid expert in the areas of management, sales and marketing for 15 years. Every corner is guarded by a dozen young men. Years of dictatorship stifled any sense of civic duty, he said, but todays globalized economy means that entrepreneurs can no longer cling to colonial ways. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. This is how she rationalizes the payoff: It is a donation from the political party to a neighborhood. The question is whether they will go, or whether they will decide to throw themselves into the (potentially money-making) business of reconstruction. He traces his origin in Jamaica. Mevs is a member of one of the richest families in Haiti; she owns Shodecosa, Haitis largest industrial park, which warehouses 93 percent of the nations imported food. Their position is that of mental slaves, they have not always understood the struggle, he says. Le Vrai Discours Actuel de Hermann Cebert Les limites de la The Waltons witnessed their fortune zoom $23 billion in the last year. Their position is that of mental slaves, they have not always understood the struggle, he says. As Mevs traveled about Port-au-Prince, he bounced between eagerness to rebuild and despair over the devastation. I collaborated with them with food and some money on a regular basis., Saleh says he received a call from a member of Barbecues gang coalition: We are going to block the area for a couple of days to ask for money from the government and trucks leaving the port, so come now and take whatever you need and then stay away for some days.. Edikasyon ak Demokrasi The Mevs and Brandts are Despite Haiti being the poorest of poor countries, it has a percentage of very rich elite who control the economy and the governance of the country. WebAN INSIDE LOOK AT HAITIS BUSINESS ELITE. Pense positive et Succs Critics claim that these notoriously wealthy families do not value democracy in politics or in economic matters. Web2021 Top 8 Richest People in Haiti and their Net Worth 8. At the end of the day, she holds a cocktail party for friends and associates, and they swap stories about the impossibility of business life in a gangster nation. Like others of her caste, she traces her roots to ancestors who came to Haiti generations ago from Europe and the Middle East and built fortunes. Les Brandt No one would shoot, Saleh said. Developed by Dre Boam. I need the strength to go out there and handle what Im going to find, which is not going to be positive.. (Mevs grandfather came from Hamburg, Germany, in search of a rare breed of parrot.) Jean-Claude Duvalier I have hatred for those people, every time we look at them we can say that there are two Haitis. Mevs is a member of one of the richest families in Haiti; she owns Shodecosa, Haitis largest industrial park, which warehouses 93 percent of the nations imported food. Government window.protag.cmd.push(function () { Barbecue fancies himself a man of the people and an enemy of the elite. There was nowhere to turn for help. Web2021 Top 8 Richest People in Haiti. While some turned to kidnapping, like those who captured 17 missionaries and their relatives, Barbecues men took control of the port district, gaining a stranglehold on the countrys economy. We need to create a new political party., Youri Mevs does not pay the $500,000 extortion. Mevs is a member of one of the richest families in Haiti; she owns Shodecosa, Haitis largest industrial park, which warehouses 93 percent of the nations imported food. Barbecues demand: $500,000 a month, a war chest he claimed would be used to buy food for the hungry and fight for democracy. If you have $5 million worth of merchandise to unload and deliver, $50,000 (in bribes) is something you can deal with, says Geoffrey Handal, entrepreneur in the shipping industry and former president of the Franco-Haitian Chamber of Commerce. His and others like; Madsen, Lacombe, Gardere, Mevs and Bigio have remained to be the richest families in Haiti. joseph michel Born in Port-au-Prince, Dodard worked as an advertising illustrator. No, he insists. Barbecue unboxes two new, American-made AK rifles with ammunition. window.protag = window.protag || { cmd: [] }; and made us unique people. There are still some big names in this list. Who would shoot? It takes people with Mevs skills and wherewithal to get much of anything done in Haiti these days. They unload the truck into a house, a school, a party office. Les Brandt, Boujwazi Milat Peyi Dayiti a ap Ekstminen Moun Pv nan Vil Ptoprens Peyi Dayiti, Ce que Je suis, Je Suis Toujours, Je suis: Les Secrets Du Soleil, Ce que les politiciens et les journalistes de lextrme droite ne disent pas au Qubcois, Ce qui se cache derrire la Saga Michle Bennett Duvalier versus Marc Antoine Acra: Une occasion en Or pour juger le duvalirisme, le jeanclaudisme et les crimes conomiques des familles riches en Hati, Comment apprendre le crole hatien: le crole pour francophones et crolophones. Developed by Dre Boam. His chauffeur has been so traumatized, he said, that he has been in two wrecks in the last few days. On a hot October morning, Barbecue the name comes from his mothers occupation, selling food at a street stall receives reporters in his stronghold of Bellecour-Cit Soleil, a wretched neighborhood of tin shacks without water, electricity or any basic services. We had to learn how to reach out, we had to learn to work with social responsibility.. They embraced. In an accounting document from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, Bigio was revealed as the buyer of Epstein's Mercedes Maybach at a price of $132,000. He called police, called everyone he knew. By ALBERTO ARCE and RODRIGO ABD October 27, 2021. The Richest families in Haiti | Main | Clifford Brandt, Haiti Prominent Businessmans son arrested for Kidnapping , Your email address will not be published. Moise and his predecessor, Michel Martelly, used gangs for hire to control the coastal areas where a large number of votes were concentrated. Today, billionaire Mukesh Ambani is the countrys richest man, and his brother Anil Ambani is among the worlds wealthiest people. Only 11% of Haitians in the countryside have access to energy compared with 63% in the cities. However, extreme poverty rates have stayed largely the same in rural areas for 12 years. My generation is between two worlds, he said. Journalists examine the relationship among business, political, and gang leaders ahead of the next Youri Mevs knew that the call was coming, and she was terrified. Guards told him later that armed men fronting a mob had come to the door and knocked. 2018-2023 Topmost10.com. He has been accused by the United Nations and other international organizations of participation in three massacres between 2018 and 2020. [9][10], Specifically Bigio is accused of supporting "illegal activities of armed criminal gangs, including through money laundering and other acts of corruption" according to a statement from the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs.[11]. We are not going to shoot a gun to defend a bag of rice.. We have to put an end to the system of dispossession.. How does your net worth compare to In the meantime, she vows to stand up and fight the political battle to rebuild the government and country. Gouvernement We need people like us involved in politics with a long-term approach, she says. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); window.googletag = window.googletag || { cmd: [] }; Barbecues revolutionary rhetoric is empty, he says. Generally, the occupants look down in silence, extras in a movie they played no part in producing. Most of the elite are descendants of Europeans who in the mid- to late 1800s came to Haiti, a nation that had been founded largely as a slave plantation. (Mevs grandfather came from Hamburg, Germany, in search of a rare breed of parrot.) Traditions, habits and the way we were I collaborated with them with food and some money on a regular basis., Saleh says he received a call from Merci Dieu, a member of Barbecues gang coalition: We are going to block the area for a couple of days to ask for money from the government and trucks leaving the port, so come now and take whatever you need and then stay away for some days.. While some turned to kidnapping, like those who captured 17 missionaries and their relatives, Barbecues men took control of the port district, gaining a stranglehold on the countrys economy. Mevs is far from poor. This $5,000., She does not believe in cash donations because they will use them to buy ammunition, so she donates goods that cannot be used to hunt me or people like me., When Moises government began to fall apart, she decided she could no longer talk about they and them when she referred to her own country: Because I belong to the caste, I know what the caste has done to this country and what the country is doing to my caste.. Three neighboring warehouses were looted in June. There is nothing wrong in giving them food.. His and others like; Madsen, Lacombe, Gardere, Mevs and Bigio have remained to be the richest families in Haiti. (February 2018) Not included in the scope of this page are royal families, for which see List of royalty by net worth. However, the 2 percent controlled about 44 percent of the total national income. Though the elite percentage is small it has the biggest share of the economy. The top six richest families in Haiti are: Madsen, Brandt, Lacombe, Gardere, Mevs and Bigio. Can we afford it? The answer was no. Few, if any, of their number died, but there were injuries and the loss of friends and employees. Over the last year, theyve grown their family fortune by The families have been linked with the facilitation of the coup d'etat that ousted Haiti's elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. The Mevs, along with the Brandts, are the most prominent among Haiti's wealthiest families. Nobody would do anything. The license plates speak to another quirk of Haitis elite: Most have finagled posts as honorary consuls of any number of countries. Barbecues revolutionary rhetoric is empty, he says. There was nowhere to turn for help. We are needed, Mevs said. WebWe would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. window.protag.display("protag-sidebar"); Her office got the call one early morning in August. She orders one of her managers to supply some of Barbecues rivals: Get them corn flakes, milk, pasta, tomato and soap. How much? The ruling families don't want to share, the gangs don't want to obey the law and order, there isn't any law and order to begin with, and the citizens are basically stuck in the middle. Refuse, and Shodecosa would be ransacked, and the gangs also would block the roads around the port terminal owned by the Mevs family. Their houses and offices also collapsed. | Clifford Brandt, Haiti Prominent Businessman's son arrested for Kidnapping , Iyou guys should put brezault because they own lesly center and they have a lot of. Though dollar for dollar, the Rothschild family is considered to be the richest family in modern history. Are you willing to have blood on your hands?. [6][7][8], On December 2, 2022 the Government of Canada imposed sanctions against Bigio, along with two other Haitian businessmen; Reynold Deeb and Sherif Abdallah. culture No, he insists. A family stands inside a makeshift shelter built on the site of their home which was burned during gang war activity, on May 25, 2019 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He checked the cameras online and they were off. Your email address will not be published. Like everyone else, she has watched with despair as her country descended into chaos since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Now Latortue is waiting for the party nomination and Mevs is running his campaign. Projets Reconstruction Hati But like those emigrants, she and others among Haitis wealthy elite have few illusions about life in Haiti. Though the elite percentage is small it has the biggest share of the economy. It was from Jimmy Cherizier -- aka Barbecue, a former policeman who leads the G9 gang coalition which controls the coastal strip of Port-au-Prince. Dossier Kidnapping. It is populism, but people are hungry. He is not very successful. He speaks blithely of a possible civil war of the poor against the rich and powerful foreign families who own Haiti. While some turned to kidnapping, like those who captured 17 missionaries and their relatives, Barbecues men took control of the port district, gaining a stranglehold on the countrys economy. Philippe Dodard (born in 1954) is a graphic artist and Haitian painter. [4] Other leaked documents showed Bigio moving wealth to Miami and Switzerland through offshore companies in different tax havens. Dresses business sends about 50 containers of art to the United States each year. Their capacity for revival, thanks to resources, private planes and visas, vastly outdistances that of the poor and middle class. WebPurchase Manager at Inesdyc (2015present) Author has 70 answers and 24.4K answer views 3 y Wealthy family are 19, Vicini owned the sugar cane business and steal, rainiery owned the turism industry cap cana airports and electricista, and more, banks and beers business family len Jimnez, grupo ramos spermarkets and food chain industry. Barbecues extortion is brazen. The 10 Richest People in Haiti. He was an enabling factor in the establishment of several things in Haiti. United States. Michel Joseph Martelly 2018-2023 Topmost10.com. Her money, her contacts with rival gangs, her political connections all may be to no avail. We are not going to shoot a gun to defend a bag of rice.. homme d Suite #615 Since 2004, her car has been attacked; she has survived two kidnapping attempts; the government expropriated some of her properties; and her factory was damaged by arson in riots, costing her $400,000 in a single day. There were monopolies on food and other essential items during the regime. And they want to put Barbecue behind bars. Port-au-Prince Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Civilians flee embattled town of Bakhmut as Ukrainian pullout looms. In Haiti, there is no functioning government. This article gives their current net worth in ascending order (from lowest to highest). They go to the French schools here, and they attend university in Miami. Mevs knew the threat was credible. Guards told him later that armed men fronting a mob had come to the door and knocked. Then surrounded by a dozen young, hooded men armed and dressed in brightly colored T-shirts and sneakers, he walks to the perimeter wall that encloses Terminal Varreux, the port owned by the Mevs family. Should she fight back? Mevs days are filled with all that and more. Do you want to become one of them? Barbecue gestures to a teenager who walks behind him. Refuse, and Shodecosa would be ransacked, and the gangs also would block the roads around the port terminal owned by the Mevs family. Le rapport Fauntroy identifie les cinq grandes familles qui contrlent le haut de l'conomie hatienne . Our objective is to share with you news and information So, for instance, the richest man in the Caribbean, not in Haiti, the richest man in the Caribbean lives in Haiti. In 2018 she became secretary general of Latortue's party, AAA, which has led the opposition against Martelly and Moise since the 2016 elections. Every corner is guarded by a dozen young men. Haitian president Jovenel Mose was assassinated this week by alleged mercenaries. Main In 2021, Haiti had a GNI per capita of US$1,420, the lowest in the LAC region, which averaged US$15,092. He is the founder of GB Group and Haiti's only billionaire. Religion et Dveloppement The remaining 90% are private and many people cannot afford to pay the required fees. Mevs and others dismiss nearly everything Barbecue says as posturing -- especially his claims that he is not corrupt but an enemy of corruption. Mevs is a member of one of the richest families in Haiti; she owns Shodecosa, Haitis largest industrial park, which warehouses 93 percent of the nations imported food. Gregory Mevs leaped from his armored silver Toyota SUV and marched past the guards and mango trees into what serves these days as the center of the Haitian government. If life does not improve, she may have to sell what she owns and join them. Gouvernance Publique He claims not to have any political affiliation or party and says he does not see himself as a candidate in a system that I see as corrupt.. She orders one of her managers to supply some of Barbecues rivals: Get them corn flakes, milk, pasta, tomato and soap. How much? rpublique dominicaine Clifford Brandt is the son of one of the most powerful families Oswan Brandt, One of the Richest families in Haiti. So we pay the police, then sometimes we have to pay a gang because they can barricade the route., Later, she acknowledges that some businesses not hers decide to have their own gangs on payroll. Behind them, on empty streets, gunshots ring out and armed young men stand guard at a barricade. He has been accused -- by the United Nations and other international organizations -- of participation in three massacres between 2018 and 2020. Due to Haitian nationality laws, dual citizenship is now permitted by the Constitution of Haiti, therefore people of Haitian ancestry born outside of the country are not included in this list, unless they have renounced their 6. Gilbert Bigio is a retired Haitian businessman. If life does not improve, she may have to sell what she owns and join them. [1][2][3], Bigio's name appeared in the 2021 Pandora Papers leak of secret offshore company documents by the ICIJ. When Moise was assassinated, the gangs decided there was no need to serve as middlemen for politicians anymore. The Canadian sanctions against Bigio were intended to stop the flow of illicit funds and weapons to armed criminal gangs in Haiti. Why would they accept being used if they could manage the business? Handal asks. The rich do have a choice. At one point, she says, we've had cash at home during the weekends in case a friend needed it for a ransom and banks were closed.. Again, no. She wants her daughters to move abroad, at least for now, and she knows she may have to join them eventually. 2. Le sens de la forme du vide, tableau peint par Hermann Cebert, La chute finale du suicid, tableau peint par Hermann Cebert, Le grand voisin, Pour que les dieux reviennent, tableau peint par Hermann Cebert, Lidal de la mort, tableau peint par Hermann Cebert, Lorsque nous abandonnons nos dieux, pour que les dieux reviennent, tableau peint par Hermann Cebert, Dispute des dieux , pour que les dieux reviennent, tableau peint par Hermann Cebert, Le suicidaire, tableau peint par Hermann Cebert, Les pyramides humaines chiliennes, tableau peint par Hermann Cebert, Les pyramides humaines chiliennes, tableau peint par Hermann, Collection des tableaux peints par Hermann Cebert: blogueur et artiste peintre. And then there are the gangs. Some people could accuse me of giving them weapons because the place is at war, he explains. We need people like us involved in politics with a long-term approach, she says. No recent statistics exist, but it is widely accepted that Haiti is not merely the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere but also one of the most unequal. I need the strength to go out there and handle what Im going to find, which is not going to be positive.. Mevs can do that. Comment document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a42f3b77748873774bb5df5f49191d3f" );document.getElementById("c0d6c8bded").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Rodolphe Jaar, a convicted drug trafficker and former DEA informant linked to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Mose, was. The bloodbaths, said to have been sponsored by high-ranking officials in the Mose administration, left more than 200 people dead. [5] Contemporary rankings[edit] This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. Bigio is also the de facto leader of Haiti's Jewish community and an honorary consul to Israel. His core skills include being a director, team leader, strategic business planner and customer relationship manager. Barbecue unboxes two new, American-made AK rifles with ammunition. WebNous devons demander des reformes en Haiti et les sept familles les plus riches d'Haiti doivent choisir l'exil ou redistribuer la richesse d'Haiti. Subscribe to our Philippe Dodard estimated value is 102 million Industry: Arts and Paintings Philippe Dodard (born in 1954) is a graphic artist It is believed that the rich of his days worked together with the US government to bring a revolution in Haiti. They charge you, one way or the other, for protection, but instead of protecting you against other gangs or even the police, they turn against you., Magalie Dresse lives in an elegant home in the heart of Port-au-Prince, with a well-tended garden where she does yoga in the morning. A lot of friends say, Get out, its only going to get worse before it gets better. But all of us have to be here, said Mevs, a solidly built, slightly balding man of 50. On June 6, a friend called Saleh to tell him that there were rumors of an attack against his warehouse. ACRA Marc-Antoine Acra, Olivier Acra Import / Export. Certainly, however, they are suffering too. Who would shoot? Latortue has been accused of a lot in the past, from corruption to running gangs. Mevs is far from poor. But Barbecue and his gang are immensely powerful. She has staked her future on the political system, one with overtones of the failed past. They call themselves a self-defense group. Latortue asked her to help with a report about a corruption scheme during Martellys administration. Who is the richest oil family? It was located halfway between Cit Soleil and Shodecosa, the Mevs industrial park. I know people, I have access, I can get financing, I know how to negotiate.. Gilbert Bigio, of one of the most famous Jewish families in Haiti, Bigio, and he owns his own port, Port Lafito, in the northern parts of Haiti.