2023-11-16 12:51:50
PORT-AU-PRINCE.- Hundreds of people fled this Wednesday from Cité Soleil, Haiti’s largest poor neighborhood, as clashes between gangs operating in the area intensify.
Tensions escalated since Monday when the death of Iscar Andrice, leader of the Belokou armed group in the north of this capital, became known.
Andrice was one of the key figures of the G-9 and allies, a feared federation of gangs led by former police officer Jimmy Cherizier (Barcecue) with a stronghold in Port-au-Prince, and whose main opponents are the members of the G-Pep.
Currently the two groups are fighting for control of the territory, while the local press reports several deaths and injuries as a result of the clashes.
FREQUENT Clashes
Clashes between gangs operating in and around Cité Soleil are frequent, but the gangs announced a ceasefire in October after years of hostilities. They also promised to stop kidnappings and murders.
The new conflict threatens to increase the wave of violence that the Caribbean country has suffered in recent years, while the police are absent in areas controlled by gangs.
The displaced will join the more than 200,000 people who had to leave their homes in the last year and a half to escape insecurity.
POLICIA RESCUES WOMEN AND CHILDREN HOSTAGED BY GANG
Police rescued several women, children and newborns who had been taken hostage by a gang in a Port-au-Prince hospital, The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper reported.
José Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Center, located in the Cite Soleil community of Port-au-Prince, was the first to raise the alarm about the massive kidnapping this Wednesday afternoon. “We are in great difficulty,” he said.
Ulysse said on social media that “hundreds” of hospital patients were taken hostage, but the number could not immediately be confirmed. He identified those responsible as members of the “Brooklyn” gang, led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, better known as “Ti Gabriel.”
No further details were available and it was unclear why the assailants had taken the patients hostage. Nor have details been offered of the circumstances under which the Police released them.
Jean-Pierre is also the leader of a powerful gang alliance known as G-Pep, one of Haiti’s two rival coalitions.
The Brooklyn gang has about 200 members and controls certain communities in Cite Soleil, including Brooklyn. They engage in extortion, kidnapping of property and general violence against the civilian population, according to a recent UN report.
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 20, 2021, gangs have become increasingly powerful in Haiti, and the number of kidnappings and murders has continued to increase.
KIDNAPPING OF A PATIENT
Earlier this year, at least 20 members of armed gangs stormed a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders and kidnapped a patient from an operating room.
The criminals agreed after feigning a vital emergency, according to the organization.
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