The United States (US) has reportedly started transporting embassy staff out of Haiti. dozens of armed gang fighters tried to seize political territory in the capital Port-au-Prince.
The German Foreign Ministry said its ambassador joined other European Union representatives in leaving for the Dominican Republic on Sunday (10/3).
Haitian gangs began their offensive to overthrow the government on February 29 by storming and ransacking police stations, prisons and hospitals and laying siege to strategic locations, including ports and airports.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was abroad when the uprising began, is now stranded in Puerto Rico. A US official last week warned that his government, which is no longer popular with the Haitian public, might fall at any time.
The gang’s insurrection intensified on Friday (8/3) evening, when dozens of its members gathered in the Champ de Mars, a palm tree-lined downtown area of Port-au-Prince that is home to ministries, embassies, consulates, banks and hotels, as well as the judiciary. Haiti’s grand residence and the president’s official residence.
Gang members reportedly set fire to the interior ministry building, built following the 2010 earthquake destroyed much of the capital, and opened fire on the presidential palace before being repulsed by soldiers.
Also read: After breaking into and attacking two prisons, armed gang targets Haiti airport
“If the Champ de Mars falls that’s the end,” a police officer warned in an interview with news site AyiboPost.
Le Nouvelliste newspaper said the gangs had launched a systematic operation to drive police from the strategic heart of Port-au-Prince. “Port-au-Prince’s city center has collapsed, there is no doubt regarding it,” the newspaper reported Saturday, showing a photo of a burned-out police station.
Chairman of the National Union of Haitian Police Officers Lionel Lazarre told AyiboPost that his colleagues struggled to hold back the onslaught. “The police are already on their knees,” he said.
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Police appeared to still be in control of the Champ de Mars area on Sunday, but foreign governments have urged their citizens to leave Haiti amid fears that Henry’s embattled government might be days or even hours away from collapse.
On Sunday (10/3), the Miami Herald said US marines had been flown to Port-au-Prince to strengthen embassy security and evacuate non-essential staff. US defense officials told the newspaper that the midnight operation was carried out via helicopter at the request of the State Department.
A German foreign ministry spokesman said because of the extremely tense security situation in Haiti, the German ambassador and permanent representative in Port-au-Prince left for the Dominican Republic today along with representatives from other European Union delegations. He added that they would work from there until further notice.
Also read: Armed gangs attack prisons in Haiti, dozens of people die
Haiti’s security situation has worsened since Henry became prime minister and acting president following the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Since then, politically connected gangs who make money from kidnapping, drug trafficking and extortion have controlled more than 80% of Port’s territory. -au-Prince, and the groups have grown in size in recent days.
Daniel Foote, the former US special envoy to Haiti, predicted that the gangs would win if their demands for Henry to resign were met. However, Foote believes the security situation has become so acute that massive international intervention is now the only way to restore order.
He said such a mission would need to involve between 5,000 and 10,000 police officers and be led by large countries experienced in building police capacity, such as the US, Canada, the UK, France or another European Union country.
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Foote said the UN-backed plan to deploy two thousand Kenyan police officers to Haiti would not be enough. “It’s just a suicide mission, worst case, and a waste of money, best case,” he said.
As violence escalated over the weekend and Henry’s would-be successors jockeyed for position, El Salvador’s authoritarian leader presented himself as an unlikely savior. Nayib Bukele has thrown tens of thousands of Salvadorans in prison as part of a crackdown on gangs in his country that has won praise from members of the Latin American populist right and Republican politicians in the US.
“We can fix it. But we need a UN Security Council resolution, approval from the host country, and all mission costs to be covered,” Bukele tweeted on Sunday (10/3), in response to a post regarding Haiti by a right-wing blogger.
Caribbean leaders will meet in Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, on Monday to discuss the crisis. Last week, the head of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) group, Guyana’s president, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, said its leaders were determined to help their counterparts in Haiti find a political solution.
“The fact that more people died in Haiti earlier this year than in Ukraine should give everyone in Haiti and the international community pause,” Ali said. (The Guardian/Z-3)
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