Things Nick Paton Walsh Has Said on Podcasts

“I was surprised speaking to one of the main human rights lawyers in Haiti. She was like, well, they haven't killed any of the gang leaders yet. And I was like, oh, you're a human rights lawyer. Is that really, really what you should be? Really should be at the forefront of your mind. But that's the nature of what it is. There's a lot of anger and there's very little sympathy for the gangs at all or those who live under them.” — Nick Paton Walsh, The Rest Is Classified

Asked whether Haitians he met saw any hope, Paton Walsh said he found little optimism after a decade of violence. People know about the foreign contractors' drone campaign, and what they want is for it to hit the gang leaders.

The Rest Is Classified · 2026-10-30 Permalink → Listen →

The Rest Is Classified Around 28:15 into the episode

Nick Paton Walsh

…what the drone has now done to the battlefield are only just being felt across NATO after Ukraine. And what they're going to be able to do for private security companies who can harness that and take it against sort of, you know, poorly armed insurgents or criminal groups is going to be startling.

David McCloskey

…I mean, just to bring it back to Haiti for a second and the people that you encountered. Do you feel that there is a glimmer of hope? Were individual humans there hopeful about the future, cautiously optimistic? What was your sense of how they see the future unspooling for them and their country?

Nick Paton Walsh

…like a refugee crisis in a city, squeezing everyone together. Food problems, the heat's horrific, basic sanitation. That's what is forefront of people's minds. And as soon as you changing that, like it's a press release saying, oh, you know, certain parts of Port-au-Prince are slightly less contested than they won't be. I'm going to cut it. People are certainly aware of the Prince operation. And I was surprised speaking to one of the main human rights lawyers in Haiti. She was like, well, they haven't killed any of the gang leaders yet. And I was like, oh, you're a human rights lawyer. Is that really, really what you should be? Really should be at the forefront of your mind. But that's the nature of what it is. There's a lot of anger and there's very little sympathy for the gangs at all or those who live under them. And people simply want change. And I think that's where the window for the techniques of Vectus and the task force certainly has opened.

David McCloskey

Well, Nick, tremendous to talk to you. I would encourage everyone who is listening or watching this, if they haven't already, to go watch your report on the gangs, Haiti's drug warfare and Vectus Global. It really is an incredibly eye-opening grip picket. Really, I mean, quite tragic and sad, but…

Nick Paton Walsh

Yeah, thank you for giving time to Haiti and for our reporting. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2

LinkedIn is pretty amazing at helping you grow your small business. We cannot stop your new clients from emailing you at 3 a.m. We can help you sell, market, and hire in one place. We cannot help you be in three places at once. And while we can't help you organize your calendar, LinkedIn can help…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

“One gang leader, junior dude, sort of like called Julio, said Eric Prince is the biggest threat. I mean, we're pretty sure he wasn't a placement, you know. He literally sort of said, the big problem is Eric Prince, and we want him to leave so we can make a deal with the cops. So there's clearly impact being felt.” — Nick Paton Walsh, The Rest Is Classified

Paton Walsh reported from Haiti on Vectus Global, the private contractor carrying out drone strikes against the gangs alongside the police. Asked whether it is working, he says it is hard to judge, but the gangs themselves told him they are feeling it.

The Rest Is Classified · 2026-10-30 Permalink → Listen →

The Rest Is Classified Around 16:49 into the episode

Nick Paton Walsh

…million, 40 million, probably. But there's something about the fact that he's not just saying, yeah, it's 15 million. Cheers. You know, there's something, there's something around that, which clearly means there's a desire for part of the parties and that for that not to be a public number. They're

David McCloskey

embedded with the police. They've got ex-special forces, kind of contractors. They've brought this drone capability, you know, is exceptionally interesting. And it seems, I think it's from your report. I mean, there have been thousands of kamikaze drone

Nick Paton Walsh

…the shooting and the house clearing and the front end of it. There's drone operators, there's logistics guys too. But they're able to bring something that Haiti's not had and many countries don't have, which is an armed drone capability against the gangs, which the gangs, when we spoke to them, are like, this is having an impact. We can't function in our neighborhood. We're getting pushed out. One gang leader, junior dude, sort of like called Julio, said Eric Prince is the biggest threat. I mean, we're pretty sure he wasn't a placement, you know. He literally sort of said, the big problem is Eric Prince, and we want him to leave so we can make a deal with the cops. So there's clearly impact being felt. The gangs are taking notice. Can it be sustained? At some point, we've seen everywhere, right? You've seen this, you know, eventually the other side learns. And so they learn how to make that threat less threatening or how to do it themselves. They've got their own seam surveillance drones. So it's not a huge step between that and strapping it. Explosive to it. And then, my God, you're into a…

Speaker 2

Yeah, I wanted to ask what Prince, I presume you put this question to him about the civilian casualties. What's his

David McCloskey

response when confronted with that number?

Nick Paton Walsh

His response is prepared. And I think he was like, look, we do a lot of flights to survey an area before we do a patrol, a raid, anything. We do everything we possibly can to avoid this. Accidents are not impossible, was what he said. And, you know, look, I think most people functioning in conflict…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

Things Nick Says on Podcasts

Where to Find Them

What They Said

Collections They Appear In