Port-au-Prince (EFE) , kidnappings and rapes have become commonplace.
The terror spread by these armed groups has caused the closure of schools and the flight of hundreds of people who live in neighborhoods plagued by confrontations, given the impotence of the authorities and the Police.
Some 1,500 displaced people have set up a new refugee camp in Post Marchands, a few kilometers from the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, not far from the war-torn districts, and there they live in subhuman conditions.
Meanwhile, the thousands of people who have decided to remain in their homes in these neighborhoods lack basic supplies such as water, sanitation or security.
KIDNAPPINGS MULTIPLY
In addition, not a day has passed lately without kidnappings, a situation that affects all sectors, from doctors and civil servants to students, parents and workers in private companies.
“We have noticed a certain upward trend compared to the last quarter of 2022, when there was a decrease due to the sanctions regime imposed by the international community” on sectors that financed the gangs, says in an interview with EFE Gédéon Jean, responsible from CARDH, the NGO that documents kidnapping cases in Haiti.
He explains that this upward trend is due to the fact that violent groups need funds as their income has decreased as a result of these sanctions.
“Even gangs that were not engaged in kidnapping have begun to commit them. They do it to earn money and be able to continue living in opulence », to continue to exist, he adds.
POPULAR NEIGHBORHOODS, THE SCENARIO OF THE GANG WAR
Armed groups clash in Bélair, Rue Saint-Martin and Solino. All of them are popular neighborhoods located in the lower part of the capital and hostage to the gangs that control almost the entire metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince.
In these battles, the armed coalitions G9 – led by former police officer Jimmy Cherisier, alias Barbacoa, and which controls almost the entire region of Port-au-Prince – and GPEP, led by Ti Gabriel, fight to gain more territory.
According to a provisional balance of the NGO Reseau National de Defense des Droits Humains, at least 70 people have died and more than 50 have disappeared in recent days. In addition, hundreds of houses have been burned,
According to Gédéon Jean, the vast majority of the victims are members of armed gangs, although there would also be civilians.
Apparently, the war in these areas arose because G9 wanted to use Solino and Delmas 24, until now peaceful neighborhoods, as transit areas with their hostages, but they were violently repelled by the police who live there.
SCHOOLS RUN IN SLOW MOTION
Schools are one of the sectors most affected by the growing insecurity and several have decided to close their doors until further notice. The ones that still work, the students do not go due to the violence.
Marguerite Clerié, president of the Professional Association of Private Schools, said Tuesday on a radio station that all schools are greatly affected, directly or indirectly, by the “catastrophic situation of fear and despair” and denounced the lack of will of the rulers to allow children to be educated in a favorable climate.
“All the children in Haiti live in a war situation, but we are not in the Ukraine. This makes them stressed and they are not too interested in school, “he warned.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security asks the Police to take all necessary measures to “protect life and property”, as stipulated by law, and to intensify its actions against “bandits, kidnappers and murderers who sow pain and fear among the population.
In a statement, this department reminds citizens that, if they are subjected to violence in their homes, the law allows them to defend themselves and warns them that “when someone collaborates with gangs, helping them by any means to commit their acts, they will run the same luck as them ». EFE
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