A former Quebec sniper testifies to reach as many people as possible: “The time for speeches and perpetual discussions is over”

A former Quebec sniper of Haitian origin whose family was persecuted in the 1960s and 1970s during the Duvalier regime denounces the way in which the leaders of this world currently manage armed conflicts in the four corners of the planet.

Max LaCroix is ​​an international security specialist. A former United Nations peacekeeper, he worked in a very select elite anti-terrorism team attached to special police and paramilitary units. For security reasons, he cannot reveal the location of his current mission.

The man now in his sixties tells his story in the book war dog in particular to bring about reflection on global conflicts, where he intervened.

During his career, he participated in security missions in more than six countries at war and in several dozen countries in conflict and crisis.

Efforts in vain

Over the years, he has witnessed the efforts of international organizations to help local populations. Unfortunately, with hindsight, he can only see the failure of the measures put in place.

While the powerful of this world generally propose a military response to conflicts, Max LaCroix believes that we must put the population at the heart of the solution.

According to the former sniper, people in conflict zones do not want to be taken care of.

In fact, people want nothing better than to work and provide for their families.

“They don’t want guns, they want work and dignity. Populations are only pawns in conflicts that go beyond them. People would prefer to be able to feed their families decently rather than take up arms,” explains the soldier, who gave us a video interview from the remote region where he is on mission.

At the heart of danger

In the pages of war doghe tells the most memorable stories he experienced in war zones, including those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia, Sri Lanka and Libya.

He has encountered horror, blood, fear and despair, but also humans who will make him believe in humanity.

Today, this modern-day warrior wants to testify and write to try to reach as many people as possible. He also hopes that large organizations change their methods and ways of intervening.

According to Max LaCroix, one of the greatest scourges threatening our time is unemployed and hopeless youth and men throughout the world. He saw them everywhere he traveled.

He noticed that these same phenomena and problems are reaching the shores of our big cities in the West – here.

“It’s also a message for our youth and people with problems,” he adds. In life, you must fight against your own inner enemies, not against others. »

Have a choice

Max LaCroix believes that his personal story also reflects what he wants to defend. If he had not joined the police, he believes he would probably have taken a very bad path.

Through his testimony, he wishes to inspire young people to find an objective, a goal.

In his story, he recounts the suffering he saw, but he also talks about the significant encounters he had throughout his life. “It was not those in power who inspired me, but rather the poor and the victims of these conflicts,” he says.

He hopes that world organizations and governments will realize that war is not a viable solution.

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In the streets of Haiti

Max LaCroix recalls that Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, is currently 85% controlled by gangs, most of them young boys without jobs or hope. “They are there with armored vehicles and weapons in the streets,” he describes.

“I have never seen any country in this context and in these conditions,” he notes with sadness. People are burned alive, the innocent and the guilty, everyone goes through it. […] Half the Haitian people are on the verge of famine, he adds. We have never seen this in Haiti because it is a country that cultivates a lot. »

The World Food Program and United Nations agencies are also there for the 700,000 refugees and displaced people, in addition to the tens of thousands of Haitians deported from the Dominican Republic.

“There is nothing that will move forward if there is not a robust level of security established immediately,” he said. We can’t move forward because the gangs have taken control. Today it is clear, we need more will, courage, and now – to move on to concrete actions. The time for perpetual speeches and discussions is over. »

A childhood marked with a hot iron

“I grew up too fast, I became a man at the age of 5 because I was exposed to certain things,” says Max LaCroix.

His grandparents and several of his uncles and aunts were arrested, imprisoned and tortured in Haiti. And three of his uncles had been executed and murdered.

His uncle Zach, who miraculously survived this terror, was luckier. He performed voodoo ceremonies where he implored that strength come to young Max, that his ancestors protect him and give him the courage to stand up against injustice and evil.

“So, perhaps, as Uncle Zach told me, I had a mission, I had responsibilities, perhaps even a blood debt,” we can read in the book by the man who was born and raised in Montreal.

“It never left me, it haunted me everywhere, I grew up with this goal,” he tells us.

Failed student

Max LaCroix, 16, failed at the end of his school year and did not graduate. He will manage to obtain it later.

Desperate, he works in a garage and in construction, but struggles to get out of delinquency. He was arrested a few times during his adolescence. Then, at the dawn of adulthood, while he risks a long sentence, a judge is lenient towards him.

This will be the trigger.

Max LaCroix, always driven by a quest for justice, dreams of being admitted to law enforcement and the army. He is hired and posted to a border region between Canada and the United States, where he will pursue dangerous criminals.

The dream unit

One day, as part of this job, he saw men from an elite counter-terrorism unit.

“I thought I had a glimpse of my future,” he says. Being accepted into such a unit is a superhuman process.

After preparing for two years, was selected along with 54 other candidates to participate in a brutal elimination camp. The camp, lasting two weeks, aimed to constantly push their physical and mental abilities beyond the test. As he recounts in the book, during those long days and nights, he did not sleep.

Counterterrorism

After the elimination of the majority of the other participants, Max LaCroix joins the ranks of the fight against terrorists and the worst bandits on the planet. In the community, members of this type of unit are identified by the black beret they wear.

Once hired, Max leads several operations in North America. Then, in late 1994, he received the most impactful call of his life. He was going to be posted to Haiti. “I had to be there. Haiti has been waiting for me since I was born,” he says.

After months of hard work tracking down the country’s most wanted criminals, Max received the worst news.

“We were asked to withdraw from the operation,” he laments, while he says that the UN command and its senior staff feared a bloodbath.

« [Si on était restés]it would undoubtedly have changed the course of the country’s history. I was reliving a big nightmare,” he told us.

All of its missions have always had the objective of serving justice.

• war dog appears on November 13. Available for pre-order ici.