Gangs in Haiti attempt to seize management of most important airport in latest assault on key authorities websites

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Closely armed gangs tried to grab management of Haiti’s most important worldwide airport on Monday, exchanging gunfire with police and troopers within the newest assault on key authorities websites in an explosion of violence that features a mass escape from the nation’s two greatest prisons.

The Toussaint Louverture Worldwide Airport was closed when the assault occurred, with no planes working and no passengers on web site.

Related Press journalists noticed an armored truck on the tarmac taking pictures at gangs to try to forestall them from getting into airport grounds as scores of workers and different staff fled from whizzing bullets.

It wasn’t instantly clear as of late Monday whether or not the assault, which was the largest one in Haiti’s historical past involving the airport, was profitable.

Final week, the airport was struck briefly by bullets amid ongoing gang assaults, however gangs didn’t enter the airport nor seize management of it.

The assault occurred simply hours after authorities in Haiti ordered a nighttime curfew following violence during which armed gang members overran the 2 greatest prisons and freed hundreds of inmates over the weekend.

“The secretary-general is deeply involved by the quickly deteriorating safety state of affairs in Port-au-Prince, the place armed gangs have intensified their assaults on vital infrastructure over the weekend,” stated U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

A 72-hour state of emergency started Sunday evening. The federal government stated it will attempt to observe down the escaped inmates, together with from a penitentiary have been the overwhelming majority have been in pre-trial detention, with some accused of slayings, kidnappings and different crimes.

“The police have been ordered to make use of all authorized means at their disposal to implement the curfew and apprehend all offenders,” stated a press release from Finance Minister Patrick Boivert, the performing prime minister.

Gangs already have been estimated to manage as much as 80% of Port-au-Prince, the capital. They’re more and more coordinating their actions and selecting as soon as unthinkable targets just like the Central Financial institution.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry traveled to Kenya final week to attempt to salvage assist for a United Nations-backed safety drive to assist stabilize Haiti in its battle with the more and more highly effective crime teams.

Dujarric stated the secretary-general harassed the necessity for pressing motion, particularly in offering monetary assist for the mission, “to handle the urgent safety necessities of the Haitian individuals and forestall the nation from plunging additional into chaos.”

Haiti’s Nationwide Police has roughly 9,000 officers to supply safety for greater than 11 million individuals, based on the U.N. They’re routinely overwhelmed and outgunned.

The lethal weekend marked a brand new low in Haiti’s downward spiral of violence. No less than 9 individuals had been killed since Thursday — 4 of them cops — as gangs stepped up coordinated assaults on state establishments in Port-au-Prince, together with the worldwide airport and nationwide soccer stadium.

However the assault on the Nationwide Penitentiary late Saturday shocked Haitians. All however 98 of the three,798 inmates being held on the penitentiary escaped, based on the Workplace of Citizen Safety. In the meantime, on the Croix-des-Bouquets jail, 1,033 escaped, together with 298 convicts.

The workplace stated late Monday that it was critically involved concerning the security of judges, prosecutors, victims, attorneys and others following the mass escape.

It added that it “deplored and condemned the coverage of nonchalance” demonstrated by authorities officers amid the assaults.

Following the raid on the penitentiary, three our bodies with gunshot wounds lay on the jail entrance Sunday.

In one other neighborhood, the bloodied corpses of two males with their palms tied behind the backs lay face down as residents walked previous roadblocks arrange with burning tires.

Among the many few dozen individuals who selected to remain in jail are 18 former Colombian troopers accused of working as mercenaries within the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

“Please, please assist us,” one of many males, Francisco Uribe, stated in a message extensively shared on social media. “They’re massacring individuals indiscriminately contained in the cells.”

Colombia’s international ministry has referred to as on Haiti to supply “particular safety” for the boys.

A second Port-au-Prince jail containing round 1,400 inmates additionally was overrun.

Gunfire was reported in a number of neighborhoods within the capital. Web service for a lot of residents was down on Sunday as Haiti’s prime cell community stated a fiber optic cable connection was slashed throughout the rampage.

After gangs opened hearth at Haiti’s worldwide airport final week, the U.S. Embassy stated it was halting all official journey to the nation. On Sunday evening, it urged all Americans to depart as quickly as attainable.

The Biden administration, which has refused to commit troops to any multinational drive for Haiti whereas providing cash and logistical assist, stated it was monitoring the quickly deteriorating safety state of affairs with grave concern.

The surge in assaults follows violent protests that turned deadlier in latest days because the prime minister went to Kenya looking for to maneuver forward on the proposed U.N.-backed safety mission to be led by that East African nation.

Henry took over as prime minister following Moise’s assassination and has postponed plans to carry parliamentary and presidential elections, which haven’t occurred in nearly a decade.

Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer referred to as Barbecue who now runs a gang federation, has claimed duty for the surge in assaults. He stated the purpose is to seize Haiti’s police chief and authorities ministers and forestall Henry’s return.

The prime minister has shrugged off requires him to resign and didn’t remark when requested if he felt it was protected to return residence.

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Related Press writers Joshua Goodman in Miami and Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

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Observe AP’s protection at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america