(Photo above: A group of blind and disabled people at a refuge for displaced persons, after armed gangs set their homes on fire in Port-au-Prince on June 17. Photo courtesy of Joseph Odelyn, AP)
I’m writing this especially to those of you who have been to Haiti with us, in the hopes that at least some of you will be praying diligently for divine intervention on behalf of all our Christian brothers and sisters there.
Bottom line: It’s bad. Horrifically bad.
A summary of recent events:
(Details on all these events – below)
In April, the Catholic Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince described Haiti’s recent “descent into hell” (their exact words). The statement was issued following the April 6 kidnapping of 5 priests, 2 nuns, and 3 parishioners, all of whom were being held for a $1 million dollar ransom by one of the powerful Haitian gangs. As one of the priests and one of the nuns were French citizens, both the Vatican and the French government were involved in ultimately securing their release for an undisclosed amount of money – but not until after spending almost 4 weeks held captive.
Since then things have only gotten worse – unimaginably worse.
The following is a summary of several news articles published since June 1 by Reuters, the AP News Service, and the Miami Herald (links to the full articles appear at the end of this post)…
HAITI WAS ALREADY AT ROCK BOTTOM
Even before the recent spike in violence, Haiti was already knee-deep in crises – a huge wave of new Covid infections (with no vaccines yet available in the country); a crashing economy; eroding domestic currency; anti-government protests; armed gangs; a surge in kidnapping and violence; and starvation. The United Nations estimates that more than 40 percent of Haitians are facing food shortages this year, including 1.2 million people considered to be at an emergency level. Meanwhile, acute childhood malnutrition increased by 61% in the last year because of the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and surging gang violence.
With its economy already in shambles, the country now faces higher food prices, increasing inflation – already in double-digits – and a worsening humanitarian situation. In recent months, U.N. agencies and humanitarian partners have been forced to scale down operations and decrease staff. Many humanitarian organizations have simply been unable to operate due to the deteriorating security situation.
Ed Raine, President and CEO of U.S. based Food For The Poor equated Haiti’s deteriorating situation and acute food shortage to a natural disaster. “The fact of the matter is the country’s starving already,” said Raine. “We all are sitting here wondering, ‘How bad will it get before it can get better?’ It is essentially a famine. We can see how this is going to play out over the next few months, and it is going to be disastrous. It’s very difficult to get food to our centers for distribution – we have food for people, but we cannot get it to them. It’s a big issue.”
GANGS RAID POLICE STATIONS FOR WEAPONS, KILLING SEVERAL OFFICERS AND BURNING THEIR BODIES
On June 5, armed gangs in Port-au-Prince raided six police stations simultaneously – stealing weapons, killing four police officers, and burning their bodies.
A police inspector who refused to hand over weapons was shot to death.
The United Nations said on June 6 it was “profoundly worried” about the impact of the growing violence on civilians, recalling similar incidents over the past year that forced thousands to flee.
THE POLICE ARE NOW OUT-MANNED AND OUT-GUNNED
These gangs have proliferated in Haiti over the past few years. Armed groups increasingly outgun Haiti’s security forces and fight with one another over territory. Since June 1 violence between armed groups has flared, with intense conflict in one southern neighborhood forcing thousands to flee.
The latest flare-up appeared to have killed about 10 people – including civilians – and forced thousands to flee the area as assailants torched homes and businesses. Videos on social media showed bodies along the empty highway that was manned by gunmen. The videos also showed displaced people, including children, taking refuge in a church, in a market square, and at a sports center.
“The phenomenon of gangsterization is taking on more and more alarming proportions,” the Office of Civil Protection said, adding there were conflicts in at least three other neighborhoods of the capital. “The security forces are on their knees.”
UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS OF GANG VIOLENCE
In what the U.N. describes as “unprecedented levels” of violence by rival gang fighting, the clashes between gangs since June 1 have now forced more than 14,000 people in poor neighborhoods to abandon their homes and seek refuge in churches, public plazas, and a sports complex. About 1.5 million people have been affected by this latest wave of violence.
The violence first spiked along the southern edge of metropolitan Port-au-Prince and cut off access to the southern half of the country. It then erupted on the northern side of Port-au-Prince, along the airport road and in the neighborhoods of Cité Soleil and the lower end of Delmas.
Port-au-Prince today is increasingly looking like a war zone, with dead bodies lining the streets as heavily armed men keep watch. Access to major roads has been blocked and access to healthcare centers and hospitals has also been affected.
ATTACKS ON THE BLIND AND DISABLED
On June 17, a camp where hundreds of people with disabilities were living was burned down by armed men. This camp had been their only home since the devastating January 2010 earthquake.
ANOTHER POLICE OFFICER MURDERED
Also on June 17, a police officer named Gasley Limage was killed by a gang in the lower Delmas neighborhood. The killing provoked a counterattack by the police, who fired tear gas at people taking refuge in a parking lot, forcing them to flee to neighboring areas. Haiti National Police Chief Leon Charles has accused Jimmy Chérizier, a former cop turned powerful gang leader, of killing the officer.
ARMED GANGS ATTACK FOOD DISTRIBUTION WAREHOUSES
On June 18, Lorenzo de Matteis was at home in the hills above Port-au-Prince when word arrived that businesses in the vicinity of the seaport were in trouble. De Matteis, who had been unable to get to his food distribution warehouse for two days because the streets had turned deadly with blocked roads and stray bullets, turned to his surveillance cameras.
What happened next was sheer chaos, and went on for 36 hours as more than 50,000 bags of rice, 30,000 bags of flour, 20,000 bags of sugar and more than 50,000 cases of milk were cleared out of his KayZo Distribution warehouses. “I felt violated. It was chaos, chaos,” de Matteis said of the looting. “When they were looting us we cried for help and nothing happened.” The police never responded to the business owners’ many cries for help, even though there was a police station within walking distance.
De Matteis estimates that about $10 million worth of food was looted between his business and two others — Liora Food, which was hit first, and Marché Ti Tony, which was hit next. Together, the three businesses supplied about 30% of the food staples that make up the Haitian diet, and employed close to 500 employees, who are now out of jobs.
FEAR OF CIVIL WAR
The recent surge in violence and the attacks on businesses are creating panic about where the country is headed. The U.N. estimates that about a third of Port-au-Prince’s territory is now controlled by approx. 95 armed gangs.
In a June 22 report the U.N. stated, “The situation has worsened since June 17 and will likely continue to deteriorate in the coming weeks, as gangs are expected to fight back to regain territorial control, potentially triggering new population movements.”
Earlier this week, appearing in a video with several hooded men armed with machetes and guns, the powerful gang leader Jimmy Chérizier declared that he was launching a revolution against Haiti’s political leaders and business owners. “It is our money in their banks,” he said. “It’s our money in their supermarkets, it’s our money in their dealerships.”
GANG VIOLENCE FORCES “DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS” TO CLOSE HOSPITAL
In May, a staff member of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders was shot and killed on his way home from work at the DWB Trauma Hospital on the north side of Port-au-Prince. The father of three was rushed back to the hospital, where he died on arrival. Then in early June, armed individuals robbed two DWB ambulance drivers carrying patients to the hospital.
On June 27, DWB announced that it was closing its southern Port-au-Prince Emergency Center after doctors and patients were the target of an armed gang attack. Gang members with automatic weapons had fired several bursts in the direction of the DWB Emergency Center.
The humanitarian medical organization, which is used to working in conflict zones around the globe and has been operating in Haiti for 30 years, said in a statement it believes “that it can no longer continue treating the population without endangering its staff.” This particular Emergency Center, which opened in 2006, is the oldest DWB project in the country and the only facility in the area providing free medical care to Haitians. Closing this site leaves people in this impoverished area with no access to medical care.
HEALTH SYSTEM ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE
The Haitian health system, already stressed by growing medical needs and a lack of funding, is now further strained by insecurity and an increase in surging COVID-19 infections. The country remains the only nation in Latin America and the Caribbean where the government has yet to administer a COVID-19 vaccine.
A spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders stated, “At a time when we should expand our activities because of COVID-19 and other needs, we are fighting to keep our structures open despite deplorable security conditions. We would like to do more, but we can’t do more.”
DWB had been planning to open a new COVID-19 treatment center, but has now put it on hold because of the armed conflicts. The closest facilities to treat the deadly virus are miles away, at a government-run site in Delmas 2 and at the nonprofit St. Luke Hospital in Tabarre. Recently, doctors at Delmas 2 warned that the surge in gang violence in the area was preventing patients from accessing the hospital, and St. Luke, already struggling with oxygen demands, said it may need to close due to an ongoing fuel shortage.
MORE VIOLENCE THIS PAST WEEKEND
Last weekend (June 25-27) gang battles in Cité Soleil forced scores of people to flee their homes. Meanwhile, another gang was wreaking havoc and setting fire to more than 10 vehicles in front of a church in Croix-des-Bouquets. The perpetrators were said to be members of a gang known as 400 Mawozo, and the incident was captured on video.
SHOOTING RAMPAGE IN DELMAS 32 KILLS 15 PEOPLE
Per the Associated Press: Three days ago, on Tuesday June 29, “a shooting rampage down a main street in a suburb of Port-au-Prince killed at least 15 people, including a journalist and a political activist. Bodies were found scattered on sidewalks along a main road in Delmas 32, which is a bustling community within Port-au-Prince.”
(Note that this is just 4 blocks up from the Delmas 28 Church building)
The shootings occurred just hours after a member of a group of rogue police officers known as “Phantom 509” was slain in that same area. Leon Charles, head of the Haiti National Police, has blamed allies of Phantom 509 for the mass killing, which appeared to indiscriminately target civilians in that area.
The U.S. Embassy condemned the slayings in a statement, saying it was “deeply concerned by the loss of life and general insecurity.”
Primary Source Articles:
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article252362263.html
