Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
Haiti PM Ariel Henry in Puerto Rico as gang violence continues
IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS
Image caption,
Heavily armed police were on guard at Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in San Juan when Mr Henry touched down
By Kathryn Armstrong & Will Grant, Central America and Caribbean Correspondent
BBC News
Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry has landed in Puerto Rico after apparently being unable to return to his country.
According to local media, he arrived in the capital San Juan on Tuesday after flying from the US state of New Jersey.
For the past few days, Mr Henry's whereabouts had been unknown following a visit to Kenya.
Violence in Haiti has spiralled in his absence - with armed gangs trying to take over the international airport to stop him from landing.
Their leader, Jimmy "Barbecue" Chérizier, has demanded the prime minister stand down - warning that the country is headed "straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide" otherwise.
The fact that Mr Henry seems to have been turned away from the nation he leads is a sign of just how dysfunctional Haiti has become in recent days.
US says no troops to Haiti as country reels from explosion of gang violence
Washington says no despite ‘frantic’ talks between diplomats, as bodies lie in street and army battles gun-toting gang members
Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent and Etienne Côté-Paluck in Port-au-Prince
Tue 5 Mar 2024 19.57 GMT
Share
The United States has said it will not send troops to Haiti after a stunning eruption of gang violence seemingly designed to bring down the Caribbean nation’s enfeebled government and its unpopular prime minister, Ariel Henry.
On Monday night, nearly five days after powerful organized crime bosses launched a wave of deadly and apparently coordinated attacks, the US news group McClatchy reported there had been “frantic” exchanges between US and Haitian diplomats that had raised the prospect of an emergency deployment of US special forces to help restore order.
However, a national security council official poured cold water on the suggestion there would be US “boots on the ground” in Haiti, telling the Washington-based agency: “The United States is not sending US troops to Haiti to support the Haitian national police’s security operations.”
More than 2,300km south in Haiti’s seaside capital, Port-au-Prince, the mood remained jittery and uncertain amid the still-developing gang uprising that has seen rifle-toting combatants target highly strategic and symbolic locations including police stations, penitentiaries, a container port and the city’s international airport, where residents could hear intense gunfire as army troops sought to repel heavily armed invaders.
“There has been a lot of shooting since yesterday. We can still hear them in the distance,” said Yolette Jeanty, a human rights activist who lives near the airport.
“Everyone is hiding behind their doors at home – we can’t go anywhere. My colleague had to turn back on Sunday when he went out on to the streets because there were too many corpses on his route,” Jeanty added.
“To protect ourselves … everyone has to barricade themselves in at home.”
Thousands of prisoners, among them hardened gangsters, murderers and kidnappers, fled Haiti’s two main jails after gang fighters stormed those decrepit installations. On Sunday night, the government declared a three-day state of emergency.
Police appeared to have largely retreated from the city’s eerily quiet downtown area, and many banks, businesses and government offices were closed. Three decomposing bodies still lay outside the wreckage of the national penitentiary, where cells were empty and the entrance wide open. Locals covered their noses to avoid the stench. Another eight corpses could be seen splayed out on the ground in nearby neighbourhoods.
- Published
4 hours ago
- Published
Image caption,
Heavily armed police were on guard at Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in San Juan when Mr Henry touched down
By Kathryn Armstrong & Will Grant, Central America and Caribbean Correspondent
BBC News
Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry has landed in Puerto Rico after apparently being unable to return to his country.
According to local media, he arrived in the capital San Juan on Tuesday after flying from the US state of New Jersey.
For the past few days, Mr Henry's whereabouts had been unknown following a visit to Kenya.
Violence in Haiti has spiralled in his absence - with armed gangs trying to take over the international airport to stop him from landing.
Their leader, Jimmy "Barbecue" Chérizier, has demanded the prime minister stand down - warning that the country is headed "straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide" otherwise.
The fact that Mr Henry seems to have been turned away from the nation he leads is a sign of just how dysfunctional Haiti has become in recent days.
US says no troops to Haiti as country reels from explosion of gang violence
Washington says no despite ‘frantic’ talks between diplomats, as bodies lie in street and army battles gun-toting gang members
Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent and Etienne Côté-Paluck in Port-au-Prince
Tue 5 Mar 2024 19.57 GMT
Share
The United States has said it will not send troops to Haiti after a stunning eruption of gang violence seemingly designed to bring down the Caribbean nation’s enfeebled government and its unpopular prime minister, Ariel Henry.
On Monday night, nearly five days after powerful organized crime bosses launched a wave of deadly and apparently coordinated attacks, the US news group McClatchy reported there had been “frantic” exchanges between US and Haitian diplomats that had raised the prospect of an emergency deployment of US special forces to help restore order.
However, a national security council official poured cold water on the suggestion there would be US “boots on the ground” in Haiti, telling the Washington-based agency: “The United States is not sending US troops to Haiti to support the Haitian national police’s security operations.”
More than 2,300km south in Haiti’s seaside capital, Port-au-Prince, the mood remained jittery and uncertain amid the still-developing gang uprising that has seen rifle-toting combatants target highly strategic and symbolic locations including police stations, penitentiaries, a container port and the city’s international airport, where residents could hear intense gunfire as army troops sought to repel heavily armed invaders.
“There has been a lot of shooting since yesterday. We can still hear them in the distance,” said Yolette Jeanty, a human rights activist who lives near the airport.
“Everyone is hiding behind their doors at home – we can’t go anywhere. My colleague had to turn back on Sunday when he went out on to the streets because there were too many corpses on his route,” Jeanty added.
“To protect ourselves … everyone has to barricade themselves in at home.”
Thousands of prisoners, among them hardened gangsters, murderers and kidnappers, fled Haiti’s two main jails after gang fighters stormed those decrepit installations. On Sunday night, the government declared a three-day state of emergency.
Police appeared to have largely retreated from the city’s eerily quiet downtown area, and many banks, businesses and government offices were closed. Three decomposing bodies still lay outside the wreckage of the national penitentiary, where cells were empty and the entrance wide open. Locals covered their noses to avoid the stench. Another eight corpses could be seen splayed out on the ground in nearby neighbourhoods.
