According to reports, the US has begun evacuating embassy personnel from Haiti during nighttime hours due to an attempted takeover by armed gangs in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
The German embassy also stated that their ambassador departed with other EU delegates on Sunday for the Dominican Republic.
On February 29th, Haiti’s criminal groups launched an attack to overthrow the government. They raided police stations, prisons, and hospitals, and surrounded important areas like the port and airport.
The current leader, Ariel Henry, was not in the country when the uprising started. He is now stranded in Puerto Rico. Last week, a US official cautioned that his disliked government could collapse “at any moment”.
On Friday, a group of criminals gathered in Champ de Mars, a downtown area in Port-au-Prince that houses various government buildings, embassies, consulates, banks, hotels, and important institutions like the supreme court and the presidential residence. This led to an escalation in the ongoing gang rebellion.
According to reports, gang members set fire to the interior ministry. This building was constructed after the devastating 2010 earthquake which destroyed a majority of the capital city. The gang members also shot at the presidential palace, but were eventually forced to retreat by the military.
According to a police officer interviewed by the AyiboPost news website, if the Champ de Mars collapses, it will mark the end.
According to Le Nouvelliste, the gangs have initiated a deliberate effort to force police out of the crucial center of Port-au-Prince. The newspaper stated on Saturday morning that downtown Port-au-Prince has been overtaken, as evidenced by a photo of a police station that had been set on fire.
According to Lionel Lazarre, president of the national union for Haitian police officers, his fellow officers are having a difficult time enduring the attack. He stated, “The police force is in a weakened state.”
Police appeared to still control the Champ de Mars area on Sunday, but foreign governments have urged their citizens to leave Haiti amid fears that Henry’s embattled administration could be days or even hours from collapse.
The Miami Herald reported that on Sunday, US Marines were airlifted to Port-au-Prince in order to strengthen embassy security and remove non-essential personnel. According to US defense officials, the operation was carried out in the middle of the night and involved helicopters, at the request of the State Department.
A spokesperson for the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed AFP that, as a result of the high level of security concerns in Haiti, both the German ambassador and permanent representative in Port-au-Prince departed for the Dominican Republic along with members of the EU delegation today. They will be conducting their duties from there until further notice.
Haiti’s security situation has progressively deteriorated since Henry became prime minister and acting president after the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moïse. Since then, politically connected gangs who make their money from kidnapping, drug smuggling and extortion have taken control of more than 80% of Port-au-Prince, with such groups gaining further ground in recent days.
Former US special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, expressed his belief that the gangs would “calm down” if their request for Henry’s resignation was fulfilled.
Foote stated that the severity of the security issue called for a significant intervention by the international community in order to reinstate stability. He proposed that a successful mission would require the involvement of 5,000 to 10,000 trained police officers, preferably from a prominent economy with expertise in strengthening law enforcement, such as the US, Canada, Britain, France, or another EU country.
According to Foote, the proposed deployment of 2,000 Kenyan police officers to Haiti under the support of the United Nations would not be enough. He believes it could result in a deadly outcome at worst, and at best, it would be a futile expense.
Amid escalating violence and power struggles among potential successors, El Salvador’s authoritarian leader, Nayib Bukele, has controversially presented himself as a heroic figure. Bukele’s aggressive crackdown on gangs, resulting in the imprisonment of thousands of Salvadorians, has garnered praise from members of the populist right in Latin America and Republican politicians in the United States.
Bukele expressed on his Sunday tweet that the issue regarding Haiti, brought up by a rightwing blogger, can be resolved if certain conditions are met: a UNSC resolution, approval from the host country, and coverage of all mission costs.
Leaders from the Caribbean will convene in Kingston, Jamaica on Monday to address the ongoing crisis. President Mohamed Irfaan Ali of Guyana, who chairs the Caribbean Community (Caricom) group, stated last week that the group is committed to assisting Haiti in finding a political resolution.
Ali stated that the number of deaths in Haiti during the beginning of this year exceeds the number in Ukraine, which should be cause for concern for both Haiti and the global community.
Source: theguardian.com
