Page 2 - Haiti

Gangs launch new attacks on upscale areas in Haiti's capital, dozens killed

Gangs attacked two upscale neighbourhoods in Haiti's capital in a rampage that left at least a dozen people dead in surrounding areas. Gunmen looted homes in the communities of Laboule and Thomassin before sunrise on Monday, forcing residents to flee as some called radio stations pleading for police. The neighbourhoods had remained largely peaceful despite a surge in violent gang attacks across Port-au-Prince that began on February 29. An Associated Press photographer saw the bodies of at least 12 men strewn on the streets of Ptionville, located just below the mountainous communities of Laboule and Thomassin. Crowds began gathering around the victims. One was lying face up on the street surrounded by a scattered deck of cards and another found face down inside a pick-up truck known as a "tap-tap" that operates as a taxi. A woman at one of the scenes collapsed and had to be held by others after learning that a relative of hers was killed. "Abuse! This is abuse!" cried out one Haitia

First charter flight carrying US citizens fleeing Haiti lands in Miami

A charter flight carrying dozens of US citizens fleeing spiralling gang violence in Haiti has landed in Miami, US State Department officials said. More than 30 US citizens were on the government-chartered flight that landed on Sunday, officials said in a statement. It arrived at the Miami International Airport after the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince earlier this month urged US citizens to leave "as soon as possible" as chaos grips Haiti. Passenger Avlot Quessa, who lives in Boston, travelled from the centre of the country to board the charter flight after going to Haiti last month for what was supposed to be a weeklong trip to visit his mother. "It's just terrible ... The suffering, you can only imagine," Quessa told the Miami Herald of the nearby Caribbean nation. "Haiti is my homeland and it's very stressful to see the homeland going through this act of violence, destruction ... and they are our neighbours." Haiti's main airport in Port-au-Prince remains closed following gang atta

India looking at evacuating its nationals amid violence in Haiti, says MEA

India on Friday said it is looking at evacuating up to 90 of its nationals from Haiti in view of the deteriorating security situation in the Caribbean nation. Various gangs have launched coordinated attacks on key installations in Haiti in an attempt to force the resignation of the country's embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry. There are between 75 and 90 Indians in Haiti and about 60 of them have registered with Indian authorities to return to India "if need be", external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing. "We are ready to evacuate everybody," he said. India doesn't have an embassy in Haiti and the situation in the country is being monitored by the Indian mission at Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has already opened control rooms and established emergency helpline numbers in Santo Domingo as well as in New Delhi. The Indian embassy in Santo Domingo said it is in touch with

Plan to install new leadership in Haiti crumbles after parties' rejection

A proposal to install new leadership in Haiti appeared to be crumbling Wednesday as some political parties rejected the plan to create a presidential council that would manage the transition. The panel would be responsible for selecting an interim prime minister and a council of ministers that would attempt to chart a new path for the Caribbean country that has been overrun by gangs. The violence has closed schools and businesses and disrupted daily life across Haiti. Jean Charles Mose, an ex-senator and presidential candidate who has teamed up with former rebel leader Guy Philippe, held a news conference Wednesday to announce his rejection of the proposed council backed by the international community. Mose insisted that a three-person presidential council he recently created with Philippe and a Haitian judge should be implemented. We are not going to negotiate it, he said in a loud voice as he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. We have to make them understand." His ally ...

Haiti's future being planned on two tracks: political power, gang power

Haiti's future is being planned on two tracks one involving traditional political power, the other focused on the power of gangs. After an intense session of international diplomacy in Jamaica, a group of Caribbean nations and the United States announced Tuesday that Haiti's best hope for calming violence rests with a council of influential figures who would elected an interim leader and could steer the country toward fresh presidential elections. As they spoke to the media, a heavily armed gang leader held an impromptu news conference in Port-au-Prince and rejected any solution led and supported by the international community. Haitian people will choose who will govern them, Jimmy Barbecue Chrizier said Monday. Haitian politics have lived in these two worlds for decades, experts told The Associated Press this week. Politicians and business interests have maintained on-the-books legal interests while employing gangs to enforce their will on the chaotic streets. WHO DECIDES HAITI'

Haiti preparing itself for new leadership; gangs want share in power

Politicians across Haiti are scrambling for power after Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced Tuesday that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created. But elbowing their way into the race are powerful gangs that control 80% of Haiti's capital and demand a say in the future of the troubled country under siege. No one mentioned the armed groups as Caribbean leaders congratulated themselves late Monday for setting Haiti on a new political path, and experts warned that nothing will change unless gangs become part of the conversation. Gangs have become stronger, and they have the upper hand in terms of security, said Renata Segura of the International Crisis Group. This transition is not influencing the day-to-day security of Haiti. We are very concerned. Gangs have deep ties to Haiti's political and economic elite, but they have become more independent, financing their operations with kidnapping ransoms to buy smuggled weapons, including belt-fed machine guns an

Haiti PM to resign once transitional council created, interim leader named

Caribbean leaders said late Monday that they acknowledge the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry once a transitional presidential council is created and an interim premier named. The announcement was made by Guyana President Irfaan Ali, who held an urgent meeting earlier Monday in Jamaica with officials including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and members of Caricom, a regional trade bloc. They met behind closed doors for several hours to discuss how to halt Haiti's spiraling violence. Henry did not attend the meeting and could not be immediately reached for comment. A spokesman for the prime minister's office did not return messages for comment. Before sharing details of the proposed transitional council, Ali said, I want to pause and thank Prime Minister Henry for his service to Haiti. Earlier on Monday, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the meeting was a work in progress. It is clear that Haiti is now at a tipping point, he said. We are deeply ..

US pledges additional $100M to deploy multinational force for Haiti

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday announced an additional USD 100 million to finance the deployment of a multinational force mission to Haiti following a meeting with Caribbean leaders in Jamaica to halt the country's violent crisis. Blinken also announced another USD 33 million in humanitarian aid and the creation of a joint proposal agreed on by Caribbean leaders and Haitian stakeholders that would expedite the creation of a presidential college. He said the college would take concrete steps he did not identify to meet the needs of Haitian people and enable the pending deployment of the multinational force to be led by Kenya. The joint proposal has the backing of members of Caricom, a regional trade bloc that held Monday's urgent meeting. I think we can all agree: Haiti is on the brink of disaster, said Guyanese President Irfaan Ali. We must take quick and decisive action. He said that he is very confident that we have found commonality to support what he described

Haiti extends emergency, nighttime curfew to prevent gang attacks

Haiti's government said Thursday that it was extending a state of emergency and nighttime curfew to try and curb violent gang attacks that have paralyzed the capital of Port-au-Prince in a fierce battle for political power. An initial three-day curfew was announced over the weekend, but gangs have continued to attack police stations and other state institutions at night as Haiti's National Police struggles to contain the violence with limited staff and resources. The people with the guns are essentially the current arbiter of Haitian politics, said Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia. The gangs have won the battle so far. The attacks began a week ago, shortly after embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed to hold general elections in mid-2025 while attending a meeting of Caribbean leaders in Guyana. He then flew to Kenya to push for the deployment of a U.N.-backed police force from the East African country to help fight gangs in Haiti. But a cou

Haiti declares curfew to restore order after violent weekend jailbreak

Haiti's government declared a state of emergency and nighttime curfew late Sunday in a bid to regain control of the streets after an explosion of violence over the weekend saw armed gang members storm the country's two biggest prisons. The 72-hour state of emergency went into immediate effect as the government said it would set out to find the killers, kidnappers and other violent criminals that it reported escaped from the prison. The police were ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders, said a statement from Finance Minister Patrick Boivert, who is serving as acting prime minister. Prime Minister Ariel Henry travelled abroad last week to try to salvage support for a bringing in a United Nations-backed security force to stabilise the country in its conflict with increasingly powerful crime groups. The decree capped a deadly weekend that marked a new low in Haiti's downward spiral of violence. At least nine people had been .

5 magnitude quake strikes Dominican Republic near border with Haiti

A 5 magnitude earthquake struck the northwest Dominican Republic on Friday near the border with Haiti. The tremor occurred at a depth of 19 kilometers just west-northwest of Las Matas de Santa Cruz, according to the US Geological Survey. Officials in the Dominican Republic said the quake was felt in the border town of Montecristi all the way south to the capital of Santo Domingo. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the country this year, Dominican geologist Osiris de Len said. Jenrry Castro, mayor of the northwest town of Villa Vazquez, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that minor damage was reported in two schools. Products also fell off supermarkets shelves in the area, he said, adding that crews were inspecting all schools and municipal buildings in the town. The quake occurred in an area that has become a flashpoint in an ongoing border dispute between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. No immediate damage or injuries were reported in Haiti. The island of Hispaniola

US to put forward UN order to allow Kenya-led police to fight Haiti gangs

The United States said Tuesday it will put forward a UN Security Council resolution that will authorise Kenya to lead a multinational police force to help combat gangs in Haiti that control much of the capital and are spreading through the Caribbean nation. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a news conference at the start of the U.S. presidency of the council this month that we welcome Kenya's decision to lead the multinational force (and) we will be working on a resolution to support that effort. Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry sent an urgent appeal last October for the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force, in sufficient quantity to stop the gangs. U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres had been appealing unsuccessfully since then for a lead nation to help restore order to Latin America's most impoverished country. More than nine months later, Kenya was the first country to positively consider leading a force, offering to send 1,000 police to help train an

UN Deputy urges nations to consider forces for Haiti to restore security

The UN's deputy secretary-general urged every country with capacity to urgently consider the Haitian government's request for an international armed force to help restore security and alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean nation, which is in a deepening crisis of unprecedented scale and complexity that is cause for serious alarm. Amina Mohammed also reiterated Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call for international support for the beleaguered Haitian National Police. Insecurity has reached unprecedented levels and human rights abuses are widespread, she told the UN Security Council. Armed gangs have expanded their violent criminal activities, using killings and gang rapes to terrorise and subjugate communities. Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and the country's Council of Ministers sent an urgent appeal October 7 calling for the immediate deployment of a specialised armed force, in sufficient quantity to stop the crisis caused partly by the criminal actions of armed

Will expand temporary legal status for Haitians residing in country: US

The Biden administration said Monday that it would expand temporary legal status for Haitians already living in the United States, determining conditions in the Caribbean nation were too dangerous for their forced return. The Homeland Security Department said Haitians who were in the United States November 6 could apply for Temporary Protected Status and those who were granted it last year could stay an additional 18 months until August 3, 2024. The administration has extended temporary status for several countries and expanded or introduced it for Haiti, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Myanmar, Cameroon and Venezuela, reversing a Trump-era trend to cut back on protections for those already in the United States. TPS, which typically comes with authorisation to work, may be extended in increments up to 18 months for countries struck by natural disasters or civil strife. Haiti has seen increasingly brazen attacks by gangs that have grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of ...

Over 12 killed, houses burnt in Haiti as gangs vie for control, says Mayor

More than 12 people were slain and numerous homes set on fire in a community near Haiti's capital as gangs fight to control more territory, a mayor told The Associated Press on Thursday. The incident occurred in the small town of Cabaret northwest of Port-au-Prince at nearly midnight Tuesday, Mayor Joseph Jeanson Guillaume said. The community recently appointed local residents to serve as guards given a spike in violence across Haiti, but they were overpowered by gangs with machine guns, he said. There was nothing they were able to do to defend themselves, Guillaume said. This is a terrible incident. Pictures and videos shared on social media show the bodies of mutilated victims strewn outside their homes and fires burning through the night, consuming more than 20 houses. Guillaume called on Haiti's National Police to bring those responsible to justice and to strengthen the presence and resources of officers in Cabaret, which he said has become a lawless zone. He also urged town

Dominican Republic expels 1,800 migrant children to Haiti, says Unicef

Dominican authorities have expelled at least 1,800 unaccompanied Haitian migrant children this year, sending them back to their crisis-stricken country, UNICEF said. The Dominican Republic denied the claim, which came Tuesday amid the government's intensifying crackdown on migration in response to a cholera outbreak and ongoing gang violence in Haiti. The two countries share a 390-kilometer border on the island of Hispaniola. The crackdown has provoked harsh criticism by international observers, including the United States, which have accused the country of mass deportations, racist treatment of migrants and detentions of Haitians in facilities with poor conditions. Among those fleeing to the Dominican Republic are girls and boys, many of whom are sent back to Haiti through different border points, where they have been received by UNICEF partners at the border, according to the organisation. The information was first reported by CNN, and confirmed by UNICEF, which declined to comm

Thousands protest across Haiti as UN to discuss troops deployment

Thousands across Haiti organised protests demanding the prime minister's resignation as the country commemorated the death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a slave who became the leader of the world's first Black republic. The protests on Monday come hours before the United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet and vote on several measures to tackle the increasingly chaotic situation in Haiti, which is awaiting a response on its recent request for the immediate deployment of foreign troops. "The US needs Haiti to make its own decisions and not interfere in Haiti's business," said Marco Duvivier, a 35-year-old auto parts store manager, who had joined Monday's protest in Port-au-Prince. "Life is not going to get better with an international force." Haiti has practically reached a standstill more than a month after one of the country's most powerful gangs surrounded a key fuel terminal in the capital and prevented the distribution of more than 10 million gallons of gasoline and fuel

US government to nearly double temporary visas for non-agricultural jobs

Twenty thousand of the H-2B visas will be granted to workers from the Central American countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala as well as Haiti

Haiti's economy tanks, violence soars after govt removes fuel subsidy

Daily life in Haiti began to spin out of control last month just hours after Prime Minister Ariel Henry said fuel subsidies would be eliminated, causing prices to double. Gunshots rang out as protesters blocked roads with iron gates and mango trees. Then Haiti's most powerful gang took it a step further: It dug trenches to block access to the Caribbean country's largest fuel terminal, vowing not to budge until Henry resigns and prices for fuel and basic goods go down. The poorest country in the Western hemisphere is in the grips of an inflationary vise that is squeezing its citizenry and exacerbating protests that have brought society to the breaking point. Violence is raging and making parents afraid to send their kids to school; fuel and clean water are scarce; and hospitals, banks and grocery stores are struggling to remain open. The president of neighbouring Dominican Republic described the situation as a low-intensity civil war. Life in Haiti is always extremely difficult, if

Haiti reports more than 8 deaths from cholera for first time in 3 years

Haiti's government on Sunday announced that at least eight people have died from cholera, raising concerns about another potentially catastrophic epidemic like the one that broke out a decade ago and killed nearly 10,000 people. The cases-the first cholera deaths reported in three years-came in a community called Dekayet in southern Port-au-Prince and in the seaside slum of Cite de Soleil, where thousands of people live in cramped, unsanitary conditions. "Cholera is something that can spread very, very quickly," warned Laure Adrien, director general of Haiti's health ministry. Food or water contaminated with the cholera bacteria can lead to severe diarrhoea and dehydration that can be deadly. The deaths come as a lack of fuel and ongoing protests shut down the availability of basic services across Haiti, including medical care and clean water, which is key to helping fight cholera and keep patients alive. Haiti's most powerful gang continues to control the entrance to a main fuel