The bursts of automatic weapons crackle all day long in Cité Soleil, the most disadvantaged and densely populated commune in Haiti. Two factions of gangs clash there without the police, in lack of men and equipment, intervening. Between July 8 and 12, 2022, 234 residents of Cité Soleil died or were injured. Gang weapons and ammunition arrive from the United States in containers like any other commodity.
Haitian authorities intercepted containers loaded with weapons of war. They were intended for the Episcopal Church of Haiti, an organization which benefits from customs exemption.
Investigators, during a first search, seized 18 automatic weapons including 6 AK-47s, a 12-caliber rifle, 4 9 mm caliber pistols, 20,000 cartridges, 140 weapon magazines of different calibers and 50,000 counterfeit US dollars.
A customs agent, Gina JL Rolls was arrested by the Haitian authorities on Friday, July 15.
It would be involved in the importation of weapons and ammunition found in the containers. Mandated to receive the containers from the Episcopal Church, it denies any responsibility.
The central direction of the judicial police requested the extradition of two people to Haiti. Franklin Batista and Lindor Remy, of Haitian origin, live in the United States, and They would have sent the weapons to Port-au-Prince.
According to the Haitian authorities, the weapons were to supply the gangs which sow terror in the various districts of Port-au-Prince.
Cité Soleil is a commune of Haiti, located in the department of the West and in the district of Port-au-Prince.
According to a United Nations report, 234 people were killed or injured in Cité Soleil, an underprivileged district of Port-au-Prince and the current theater of war between 2 gangs. Other people have suffered sexual violence. Dothands of families have no choice but to hide in their homes, without being able to get water and food.
No police intervention took place in Cité Soleil. The police have neither the men nor the means to deal with the situation. The gangs are better armed than the Haitian police.
The heavily armed gangs control areas around the Haitian capital, Port au Prince.
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The international community condemns the violence. Friday July 15, 2022, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) for another year.
The UN presence in Haiti has been controversial since reports of misconduct by UN peacekeepers who were present in the country from 2004 to 2017.
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