By Evens Sanon and Danica
Coto
Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti
(AP) — Escalating gang violence
has pushed nearly 8,500
women and children from their
homes in Haiti’s capital in the
past two weeks, according to a
UNICEF report.
Officials say the gangs’ fight
over territory in Port-au-Prince
has forced hundreds of families
to abandon burned or ransacked
homes in impoverished
communities, with many of
them staying in gymnasiums
and other temporary shelters
that are running out of water,
food and items like blankets
and clothes.
Bruno Maes, Haiti’s representative
for the U.N.’s children
agency that issued the
report late Monday, compared
the effect to guerrilla warfare,
“with thousands of children
and women caught in the
crossfire.”
Nearly 14,000 people in Portau
Prince have been displaced
by violence in the past nine
months, according to the U.N.
office overseeing humanitarian
Mayor • Public Advocate • Comptroller • Borough President • City Council
Caribbean L 32 ife, JUNE 18-24, 2021
coordination. Families
with young children have been
sleeping on concrete floors of
a gymnasium in the Carrefour
neighborhood, with only a
sheet serving as a bed and their
scant belongings stuffed into
bags nearby.
Many expect the violence
to increase as Haiti prepares
for general elections scheduled
for September and November:
They accuse gangs of trying
to boost support for certain
candidates and of targeting
neighborhoods that organize
protests against President Jovenel
Moise.
Pierre Esperance, executive
director of the Haitian National
Human Rights Defense Network,
said gangs control about
60 percent of the country’s territory
and that 12 massacres
have been reported since 2018
in disadvantaged communities.
However, he said he is especially
worried about the most
recent upswing in violence.
“It’s the worst we’ve seen,”
he said. “Gangs have so much
power, and they are tolerated.
… Each day that passes with
Jovenel in power, the situation
is going to deteriorate.”
A spokesman for Moise could
not be immediately reached for
comment.
Last week, Leon Charles,
general director of Haiti’s
National Police, said gangs
are fighting over territory and
called on people to rise up
against them: “The moment
has arrived for the collaboration
of all sectors.”
In addition to infiltrating
rival shantytowns, gangs
have targeted police stations
in recent weeks, killing several
officers. They also have
raided businesses and fired on
a car dealership on Monday as
customers and employees fled.
Hours later, Haiti’s National
Police said they had the situation
under control and were
collaborating with citizens “to
thwart the attempts of these
In this Dec. 10, 2020 fi le photo, a protester holds a sign with
a message to stop supporting gangs during a protest demanding
the resignation of Haitian President Jovenel Moise
in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. A UNICEF report says that escalating
gang violence has displaced thousands of women and
children in the capital in the fi rst two weeks of June 2021.
Associated Press/Dieu Nalio Chery, File
armed gangs wanting at all
costs to create a climate of terror
in the country.”
The United Nations Integrated
Office in Haiti said it was
deeply concerned about the
upsurge in gang violence and
called for it to end so humanitarian
aid could reach those
in need.
Businesses and schools have
closed and public transportation
ceased in communities
most affected by the violence,
including Martissant and parts
of Delmas, with few entering
or crossing the area for fear of
being killed.
Gang violence displaces
thousands in Haiti’s capital
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