Among the six targeted over possible ties to criminal gangs were former President Michel Martelly and two former prime ministers.

Canada announced sanctions on a slew of powerful politicians in Haiti over the weekend, part of a broad push to punish officials believed to have ties to the increasingly dominant gangs terrorizing the Caribbean nation.

Among those targeted by the measures was Michel Martelly, who was president from 2011 to 2016 and remains influential in Haiti, as well as two former prime ministers.

The Canadian government did not detail specific allegations against the three men but said in a news release that they were “using their status as current or previous public office holders to protect and enable the illegal activities of armed criminal gangs, including through money laundering and other acts of corruption.”

Haiti’s gang warfare has intensified since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last year, as armed groups have grown bolder in their attacks on one another and on the population, overpowering the nation’s poorly equipped police force in much of the capital, Port-au-Prince.