Haiti Gangs Hit Suburbs and Dominate 80% of Capital

Haiti gangs hit suburbs

HAITI GANGS HIT SUBURBS. Armed gangs in Haiti are now hitting the suburbs of the capital city Port-au-Prince. They are blocking entrances to some areas, including the upscale Petion-Ville. So journalists are finding it hard to report on unfolding events. But they are hearing heavy gunfire and reporting that at least 15 people died around Petion-Ville alone. Apparently, local vigilantes killed and set on fire two gang members in retaliation.

When upscale suburbs like Petion-Ville suffer attack, the rest of the Port-au-Prince fares worse. 33,000 fled the capital within two weeks. Gangs dominate more than 80% of the capital. Large swaths of the city lost power when gangs destroyed four substations.

They have set fire to police stations. They have also looted a UNICEF container of medical aid and Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry consul. And they have prevented interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry from re-entering Haiti after visiting Kenya.

Kenya’s efforts to bring together international armed forces to restore Haiti’s peace have stalled. So Kenya has decided to wait until a transitional presidential council forms to facilitate elections. Henry has agreed to resign once it does form. Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel called Haiti’s security situation untenable. “It is not hyperbole to say that this is one of the most dire humanitarian situations in the world.”

Nearly 1,600 US citizens have filled out State Department forms seeking help. But at this point the State Department says it can only evacuate 30 or more each day. Because gangs have forced Haiti’s main international airport to close. We must pray for divine help after so many human efforts to restore order have failed.

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Map of Haiti Rémi Kaupp, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons