The world’s most dangerous city ‘under siege’ as thugs of ‘Barbecue’ gang leaders take control and litter streets with bodies
THE world’s most dangerous city is under “siege” as gangs take control and litter the streets with dead bodies.
Haiti’s picturesque capital, Port-au-Prince, has turned into a bloody war zone after days of gang-led attacks and criminal violence.
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In a bid to overthrow the government and depose the country’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry, criminal groups that control much of the area have wreaked havoc in recent days.
Criminals have set fire to government buildings and burned down police stations.
Charred vehicles and destruction paint the picture of the streets of the capital.
Bodies are piling up in the streets at an “unprecedented” level as gun battles between armed gangs and provincial police gripped the capital.
The Haitian police, barely 9,000 strong, are overwhelmed by these attacks and unable to get things under control.
Lyonel Milfort, one of the mortuary’s directors, shared chilling details of the downward spiral of violence.
“What I am experiencing today is unprecedented. It has been too long. It is heartbreaking to walk around and see bodies being eaten by dogs and bodies covered with sheets,” he told the WashingtonPost.
Milfort said people have endlessly called on him to remove dead bodies from the streets, but this has not been possible due to the ongoing clashes.
As violence between gangs and police escalates, civilians are in the crosshairs.
More than 360,000 Haitians – half of whom are children – have so far been internally displaced as a result of the bloody violence, the International Organization for Migration reports.
Philippe Branchat, head of IOM in Haiti, said in a statement: “People living in the capital are locked down, with nowhere to go.
“The capital is surrounded by armed groups and danger. It is a city under siege.”
Haiti’s capital has witnessed a long history of violence led by criminals and warlords.
About Two hundred ruthless armed gangs rule about 80 percent of Haiti’s capital inflicting terror, sexual violence, torture and lawlessness.
For over two years Warring parties have torn the city apart and every day turned into a fight for survival.
But the latest outbreak of violence, which began two weeks ago, has led to unprecedented numbers of attacks by armed gangs amid calls for the prime minister’s resignation.
What I am experiencing today is unprecedented. It’s heartbreaking to walk around and see bodies being eaten by dogs and bodies covered with sheets
Lyonel Milfort
Amid unrest across the capital, last week’s attack on Haiti’s National Penitentiary plunged into further chaos.
a Nearly 4,000 prisoners were freed in a deadly gang attack on the capital’s main prisonleaving the normally overcrowded prison eerily empty on Sunday with no guards in sight.
Among those jailed were gang members charged in connection with the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Dozens of people have been killed since the mass prison break as gangs stepped up coordinated attacks on state institutions, including the country’s international airport and national football stadium.
The 72-hour state of emergency began last Sunday evening, as the government vowed to hunt down the murderers, kidnappers and other violent criminals who escaped en masse from prison.
The Haitian government said security forces had been “ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and detain those who violate it.”
The emergency decree was issued after what authorities called last weekend’s “massacre,” which marked a new low in the crisis-hit Caribbean nation. downward spiral of violence.
However, one man in particular was at the center of the chaos, claiming responsibility for the wave of attacks.
Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue, is calling for coordinated attacks to oust Prime Minister and police chief Ariel Henry, who is currently abroad.
Rumor has it that the police officer turned warlord earned his nickname because he set his victims on fire and caused massacres in the poorest parts of the city.
“All of us, the armed groups in the provincial cities and the armed groups in the capital, are united,” Barbecue said, calling for a systematic overthrow of the current government.
After Prime Minister Ariel Henry flew to Kenya to push for the UN-backed deployment of a police force to help combat the gangs, a new wave of violence began.
Stranded in Puerto Rico, Henry has failed to regain control of the Caribbean country, making the streets of Port-au-Prince more dangerous than ever.
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Warlords taking charge
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has been in unrest for years.
The crisis-ridden country was plunged into further chaos following the assassination of President Jovenal Moïse in July 2021.
No elections have taken place since 2016 and the presidency remains vacant.
The absence of a functioning government has left a power vacuum ready to be exploited by gangs.
Acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry was due to resign on February 7, but the planned elections were not held and he remained in his post.
In response, there have been ongoing riots and gangs have stepped up coordinated attacks on more brutal targets.
Last year, the UN said more than 8,400 people were victims of gang violence last year, including murders, kidnappings and sexual violence, doubling the numbers in 2022.
Their violence and power have multiplied as the gangs have organized themselves into fierce territorial coalitions, the largest of which are the G-9 and G-Pèp.
Renata Segura, Deputy Director of the International Crisis Group for Latin America and the Caribbeanpreviously told The Sun Online: “There’s a big question mark about what’s going to happen when you leave your house every morning.”
It is a city, she said, true ordinary people are used as ‘human shields’murdered, extorted, their businesses looted, their homes burned.
“Children can be hit by a stray bullet on their way to school.”
After mobs opened fire at Haiti’s international airport last week, the US embassy said all official travel to the country was halted and on Sunday evening urged all US citizens to leave as soon as possible.
The Biden administration said it was watching the rapidly deteriorating security situation with great concern.
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