The capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, experienced this Saturday the aftermath of a few hours of maximum violencecon intense shootings in various parts of the city and the attempt to attack the National Palacefrom where the armed gangs were repelled by security forces, causing several deaths.
Although the population tried to recover normality on a day of apparent calm, the consequences of a night of terror were clearly seen, in which The armed groups wanted to attack institutions such as the National Palace and the Ministry of the Interiorin addition to police stations or public offices.
The city woke up amid bullet casings and charred vehicles after what was experienced on Friday night, when comments proliferated on social media. images of people running, in the heart of the capital, trying to escape the shootings.
And this despite the fact that on Thursday the state of emergency was extended for a month and the curfew was renewed for four days in the department of Oeste, where Port-au-Prince is located.
The continuous and fruitless search for safe places
They happen scenes of people walking from one place to another in search of a safe place and of women carrying voluminous packages with their belongings on their heads and with children by the hand and babies in their arms.
Hopelessness reigns among those who have had to leave their homes to escape the violence and have sought refuge in improvised camps for displaced people, where they live in inhumane conditions.
But many of them, before the advance of the gangsnow they have to find other places to take refuge again because the places where they were are no longer safe and they confess, crying, that they no longer know where to go.
Some were in the gardens of Champ de Mars, next to the National Palace and near ministries and courts, places in the crosshairs of armed gangs, who demand the removal of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry from powerfor days at an unknown location and currently in Puerto Rico.
This Saturday, local media reported that Suspected criminals were killed by the National Police during an attack on the National Palaceorchestrated on Friday coalition of armed bands ‘Vivre Ensemble’ (‘Living together’), headed by the almighty Jimmy Chérizieralias ‘Barbecue’.
Ariel’s resignation
This same week, the feared former police officer Chérizier sent this message: «If Ariel Henry does not resign, the country is heading directly towards genocide. If the international community continues to support Ariel Henry, we are heading directly towards a civil war that will end in genocide..
On Friday they also tried to set fire to the headquarters of the Department of the Interior, where they were ambushed by the Police, and five vehicles parked in the parking lot and the ministry’s generator were burned.
Shortage of fuel and drinking water
In the midst of this critical situation, fuel and drinking water are in short supply in the capital and it cannot be ruled out that the rise in prices of essential products in the local market will increase food insecurity, an insecurity that, in its acute phase, , already affects 44% of Haitians.
Tension has increased exponentially in Haiti’s capital after On February 28, it was learned that Henry had committed to holding elections before the end of August 2025.a very distant date if one takes into account that The prime minister should have concluded his mandate on February 7, according to a 2022 agreement.
This announcement triggered violence that just a week ago resulted in the entry of the gangs into the city’s two main prisons and the escape of more than 3,000 prisonersamong them members and leaders of armed groups.
The prime minister, the country’s highest authority after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moiseis now the subject of pressure inside and outside Haiti to favor a transition.
Multinational Mission
This Saturday, the current president of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), the president of Guyana Irfaan Ali, assured that there has been “considerable progress” in the talks with the Haitian parties (the prime minister, political groups and civil society), but without yet achieving definitive results.
To discuss the transition in Haiti, Caricom will hold a special session on Monday in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, to which the United Nations and representatives of the international community are invited.
Haiti is awaiting the deployment of a multinational security support mission led by Kenya and approved last October by the United Nations Security Council. EFE
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