Mar 04, 2024 at 5:40 AM Update: 6 hours ago
The government of Haiti declared a state of emergency on Sunday evening. This happened after violent clashes between gangs and the escape of hundreds of inmates from two prisons.
The state of emergency applies in the capital department of Ouest for at least 72 hours. Until Wednesday, no one is allowed on the streets between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m., apart from emergency services and the press.
The chaos in Haiti has further escalated in recent days. This happened after a call from notorious gang leader and former police officer Jimmy Chérizier for crime gangs to unite and overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Henry came to power after the assassination attempt on President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.
During an armed attack on the country’s largest prison on Saturday evening, the vast majority of detainees escaped. According to one count, 3,687 people were stuck there last year. Since the outbreak, public life in the capital has largely come to a standstill.
According to the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM), nearly fifteen thousand people have been forced to leave their homes in recent days.
Photo: AP
Gangs want to depose president
There is frustration in Haiti because Prime Minister Henry did not resign in early February. Henry became acting president in 2021, succeeding the murdered Moïse. Henry was given that position without any elections.
Henry had previously promised to resign on February 7 and organize elections, but that did not happen. On Wednesday, Caribbean heads of state said Henry had pledged to call elections and step down by August 2025.
Since Moïse’s murder, Haiti has regularly experienced violence. Violence had increased further in recent months. In January, eleven hundred people were murdered, injured or kidnapped in the country.
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Image: Reuters
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