Police patrol a street after authorities extended the state of emergency amid gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. REUTERS
Published March 12, 2024
Haiti is again descending deep into chaos and violence — to the point where, historically, the United States has intervened.
Will the Biden administration refuse?
The latest was the March 2 prison break that sprang most of the nearly 4,000 inmates of the National Penitentiary, part of coordinated strikes across the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
Heavily armed gangs now control 80% of the city, including the nation’s only international airport. Armed vigilantes are the main opposition to the gangs across the country.
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SOURCE: www.nypost.com
RELATED: Ariel Henry: Haiti’s prime minister resigns as law and order collapses
Published March 12, 2024
Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to resign following weeks of mounting pressure and increasing violence in the impoverished country.
It comes after regional leaders met in Jamaica on Monday to discuss a political transition in Haiti.
Mr Henry is currently stranded in Puerto Rico after being prevented by armed gangs from returning home.
In a video address announcing his resignation, Mr Henry urged Haitians to remain calm.
“The government that I am leading will resign immediately after the installation of [a transition] council,” Mr Henry said.
“I want to thank the Haitian people for the opportunity I had been granted. I’m asking all Haitians to remain calm and do everything they can for peace and stability to come back as fast as possible.”
Mr Henry, who had led the country supposedly on an interim basis since July 2021 following former President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination, had repeatedly postponed elections, saying security must be restored first.
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SOURCE: www.bbc.com
RELATED: Gang leader named ‘Barbeque’ is now most powerful man in Haiti — as US evacuates Americans
Jimmy Cherizier, known as “Barbecue,” is the main gang leader behind the violence in Haiti.
Published March 12, 2024
Haiti’s most notorious gang leader, known as “Barbecue,” may be the most powerful man in the nation as the prime minister remains unable to return home.
On Sunday, the US announced that troops had evacuated Americans from the US Embassy and brought in additional forces to secure the diplomatic compound in Port-au-Prince.
Jimmy Chérizier, the leader of the notorious “G9 and Family” gang, is in command of the bulk of the gunmen stirring anarchy in the capital — and he vowed to fight until embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigns.
“I am ready to make an alliance with the devil, ready to sleep in the same bed as the devil,” Chérizier told his supporters last week as his fighters destroyed police stations and other government facilities.
