Haiti declares emergency following massive jailbreak

A 72-hour state of emergency was proclaimed by the Haitian government on Sunday following the incursion of armed gangs into a large prison in Port-au-Prince, which resulted in the escape of around 4,000 prisoners and the death of at least 12 individuals.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry is currently away, and gang leaders claim they intend to force his resignation.

About 80% of Port-au-Prince is under the hands of the factions seeking to remove him.

Thousands have died in the nation as a result of violent gang conflicts since 2020.

Two prisons, one in the capital and the other in the nearby town of Croix des Bouquets, were stormed over the weekend, according to a government statement, which also declared that the acts of “disobedience” posed a threat to national security and that a nighttime curfew would be implemented immediately, beginning at 20:00 local time (1:00 GMT on Monday).

Among those detained in Port-au-Prince were gang members who were charged with the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

The most recent wave of violence started on Thursday, the day the prime minister traveled to Nairobi to talk about sending a multinational security force headed by Kenya to Haiti.

Gang leader Jimmy Chérizier (nicknamed “Barbecue”) declared a co-ordinated attack to remove him.

“All of us, the armed groups in the provincial towns and the armed groups in the capital, are united,” said the former police officer, who is thought to be behind several massacres in Port-au-Prince.

Although the biggest prison in the capital, Haiti, had been requested by the police union to be reinforced by the military, the compound was attacked late on Saturday.

The Reuters news agency said that the prison’s doors were still open on Sunday and that no guards were visible. According to the report, three prisoners who attempted to escape lay dead in the courtyard.

99 inmates, including former Colombian soldiers imprisoned for the assassination of President Moïse, a volunteer prison worker told the Reuters news agency, had opted to stay in their cells out of fear of being killed in crossfire.

Since President Moïse’s murder, there has been an abundance of violence. Elections have not been held since 2016 and he has not been replaced.

Elections were scheduled as part of a political agreement, and Mr. Henry, who was not elected, was supposed to resign by February 7th, but that did not occur.

The UN reported in January that more than 8,400 people—more than twice as many as in 2022—were victims of gang violence in Haiti in the previous year, including murders, injuries, and kidnappings. (BBC)

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