As a series of heinous gang attacks swept across Port-au-Prince, allegedly to intimidate the recently announced” transitional council” from meeting to appoint a new government, Haitian gang leader Jimmy” Barbecue” Cherizier reportedly ordered his men to “burn every house you find.”
On Sunday, residents said dozens of homes and businesses were set on fire, while reporting on citizens described piece of Port-au-Prince as a “battlefield between police and military groups.” Violence spread to the capital city’s cities. The State University of Haiti, one of the most prestigious universities in the nation, was attacked by band individuals who also carried out the massacre.
Two audio messages, purportedly from top gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue ” Cherizier, were posted on social media. Cherizier instructed his men to start as many flames as possible in Lower Delmas ‘ impoverished Port-au-Prince city in the information.
“Continue burning the buildings. Make everyone keep without having to understand which home. Every property you find must be blown out. Set the fire, ” the information said. In one of the tapes, the alleged Cherizier claimed to have offered cans of gas to power the arson attack.
A protester burn tires during a presentation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 12, 2024, following the departure of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry. ( CLARENS SIFFROY/AFP via Getty )
The U. N. reported on Friday that more than 50 % more organized gang assaults on Haiti’s government and law enforcement features, including the gang-emptied prison, occurred in the first quarter of 2024, according to a report from the newspaper. By the end of March, 19 police officials had died and at least 22 had been set on fire and looted.
The U. N. alleged that Haiti’s groups are committing nearly every human rights violation listed on the books, from recruiting children as soldiers to using murder as a weapon. As the gangs switched their focus from attempting to produce as much havoc and destruction as possible, although kidnapping for a ransom is still a popular crime.
Violence-inflicted murders committed by furious and helpless citizens are also on the rise. The Associated Press ( AP) On Sunday, a group of Port-au-Prince residents attempted to smuggle cash to construct a metal wall around their area to keep out both hoodlums and vigilante gangs.
One native described the entire town as an “open-air prison” and said he slept with his home on the roof of their home hoping the raiders had n’t see them as they raided the empty house. When groups descend upon them, some people have turned to charcoal industry sales of gas, food, and water to thrive. They have been forced to flee for their lives with their carts full of goods.
People walk past burning rubber during a rally against Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on February 5, 2024. ( AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph )
After the groups were able to stop Prime Minister Ariel Henry from visiting Kenya at the end of February, the murder grew. Henry, who was forced into exile in Puerto Rico after the assassination of President Jovenel Mose in July 2021, accepted his resignation. He has not run for office. However, he has not yet resigned, as he said he would only do so once the “transitional government ” established itself.
Leaders like Cherizier have dressed themselves as civic activists attempting to overthrow a corrupt regime for the good of the people, and the criminals ostensibly merged into a rebel coalition called “Viv Ansanm ”— or “Living Together ” — with the intention of forging Henry out of business. However, Henry reportedly gave in and agreed to retire, but the criminals only grew more violent and destructive. Numerous possible transitional council members have received death threats.
The intermediate council’s membership was finally announced on April 16 after months of intensive negotiations and street terrorism. It includes seven election people and two non-voting spectators.
The U. N. enthusiastically supported the establishment of the government, and the Biden administration immediately provided Haiti with$ 60 million in cash for a “multinational protection support mission, ” which does not exist, but the first committee meeting has not yet been scheduled. Some sceptical observers, and even some government members, are concerned that Henry will stifle the change process so that he can stay in strength, or that the gangs may use repressive measures to obstruct the council from convening.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry (VALERIE BAERISWYL/AFP via Google Images )
Immigration organizations criticized the Biden administration for deporting about 50 Haitian illegal aliens back to their “deadly crisis ” on Friday.
This imprisonment demonstrates how rude the Dominican American Art Network is to its citizens, said Nattacha Wyllie of the Creole American Art Network.
Executive producer of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Tessa Petit, stated:
This imprisonment journey is yet another illustration of the Biden administration’s hypocritical attitude toward Haiti. By granting Temporary Protected Status ( TPS) on the grounds that deporting people to a nation rife with unrest and violence is cruel, it is only appropriate to do so at the most bloody point in Haiti’s history.
U.S. citizens were urged by the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS). S. The administration is afraid of the huge, and possibly very dangerous, recruitment wave that might result from Haitians believing they can immediately obtain asylum upon entering American soil, but the policy to return noncitizens who do not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States will continue.
The U. S. The federal government apparently has a plan to redirect Haitians to a refugee facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, despite the fact that the Coast Guard has been attempting to capture and bring Creole migrants home from sea. Some officials contend that if Guantánamo had to practice more than a thousand immigrants per day, that plan may be overwritten.
The International Organization for Migration ( IOM) has warned that Haiti is facing a “crisis ” of internally displaced persons ( IDP ), with some 360,000 people currently displaced within Haiti’s borders, 160,000 of them from Port-au-Prince alone.
