Haiti is downward spiral as gangs strengthen hold

The violence in Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital, increased over the weekend once more. Armed gangs stormed the National Palace, using petrol bombs to set a section of the Interior Ministry on fire.

It follows an extended assault on the international airport, which keeps all flights out of the air, including one that is transporting Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Last week, he attempted to return to Haiti via plane, but his jet was denied landing rights. The neighboring Dominican Republic also turned him away.

Now that he is confined to Puerto Rico, Mr. Henry is unable to travel to the country he purports to lead.

But among those who did make in into the beleaguered Caribbean state was a contingent of US military soldiers.

The Pentagon acknowledged that it had conducted an operation to, in its words, “augment the security” of the US embassy in Port-au-Prince and transport all non-essential staff members to safety in response to a request from the US State Department.

Soon after, the ambassador of Germany and a few other EU countries did the same, escaping a country engulfed in conflict and experiencing its worst humanitarian catastrophe since the 2010 earthquake.

But millions of Haitians just do not live in such luxury. No matter how terrible things become, they are stuck.

At the State University of Haiti Hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince, also referred to as the general hospital, the situation is terrible. There’s absolutely no evidence of any medical personnel.

Beside patients who are impatiently waiting for treatment is a lifeless body, festooned with insects and covered in a sheet.

There is an overwhelming smell, but nobody has shown up to take the body away. In the heat of the Caribbean, it is disintegrating quickly.

“There are no doctors, they all fled last week,” said Philippe a patient who didn’t want to give his real name.

“We can’t go outside. We hear the explosions and gunfire. So, we must have courage and stay here, we can’t go anywhere.”

With no prime minister and a government in disarray, the gangs’ power over the capital is near absolute.

They control more than 80% of Port-au-Prince and the country’s most notorious gang leader, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier has again told the prime minister to resign.

“If Ariel Henry doesn’t step down and the international community continues to support him,” he said last week, “they will lead us directly to a civil war which will end in genocide.”

Concurrently, the police are finding it difficult to repel looters due to their lack of resources and morale. Police cars that have been burned out and attacked lay outside the still-smouldering Salomon police station in Port-au-Prince. (BBC)

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