Inside Haiti's week of 'violent terror' as gangs revolt against prime minister
A criminal catastrophe has rocked Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince this week as gangs continue to dominate the city in a spate of devastating violence.
The city has been over run as armed groups launched a wave of attacks in the capital, including raids on two prisons that led to the escape of thousands of inmates as at least 10 police buildings have been destroyed since the start of the unrest in the capital. Widespread gang violence has plagued the nation for more than two years, following the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, creating immense political instability in the Caribbean country.
De facto leader, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, has been damaged with consistent denials of legitimacy and continuing calls to resign as Moise chose Henry for the post just days before he was assassinated. Gang attacks have become common place following the killing.
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People gather around a penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (Johnson Sabin/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)The head of the powerful G9 Haitian gang alliance, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, warned this week that, “If Ariel Henry doesn’t resign, if the international community continues to support him, we’ll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide."
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“We’re being told that the border is now closed. Security forces here are on high alert,” Al Jazeera reporter Teresa Bo explained from Dajabon, a Dominican town on the border with Haiti. Displaced Haitians are apparently being prevented from entering the neighboring country.
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A protester burns tires during a demonstration calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince (AFP via Getty Images)The United Nations said this week that at least 15,000 people in Port-au-Prince - where gangs are believed to control about 80 percent of the territory with violence - have had to flee their homes in the face of catastrophic violence.
The international organization have warned that the country’s health system is teetering on the brink of collapse. Haiti's main port has had to suspend operations due to sabotage and vandalism as the capital city descends further into chaos. Local media report that armed men broke into the port in capital Port-au-Prince, looting containers.
Gang violence has broken out in Haiti (Johnson Sabin/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)It follows attacks by gangs on the airport, police stations and prisons this week. They are pushing for Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry's removal. A three-day state of emergency has now been extended by a month.
The Miami Herald reported on Wednesday that the United States had asked Prime Minister Henry to agree to a new transitional government and hand in his resignation as the crisis worsened.
Senior US officials, including the country’s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, denied that report but did share that some efforts had been made to steer the situation towards peace.
The Prime Minister has not returned to his country (AFP via Getty Images)“What we’ve asked the Haitian prime minister to do is move forward on a political process that will lead to the establishment of a presidential transitional council” to allow for elections, Thomas-Greenfield said on Wednesday.
“We think that it’s urgent … that he moves forward in that direction and start the process of bringing normalcy back to the people of Haiti.”
Henry has been in the US territory of Puerto Rico since Tuesday, refusing to return to his violence-stricken country. The state of emergency continues as a refugee crisis becomes apparent in the small Caribbean nation shaken by a devastating earthquake in 2010.
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An elderly woman runs in front of the damaged police station building with tires burning in front of it after armed gang members exchanged gunfire (Anadolu via Getty Images)Vital aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres has estimated that at least 2,300 people had been killed in the violence in 2023 in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Cite Soleil which is home to 9% of the capital's population.
While the former Prime Minister's assassination was certainly a catalyst for the violence in the country, some feel that the economic catastrophe caused by the earthquake, the 29-year dictatorial rule of “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvalier, and reparations imposed by the French could also be to blame.
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