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Human rights expert voices alarm, saying country is fast moving towards becoming ‘like Somalia in the worst of its times’Haiti: what caused the gang violence?The UN’s top expert on human rights in Haiti has warned the Caribbean country is rapidly moving towards becoming “like Somalia in the worst of its times” after a criminal uprising which has displaced tens of thousands of people and...

Airport among targets in Port-au-Prince as Jimmy Chérizier, known as ‘Barbecue’, vows to capture top officials in PM’s absenceHeavy gunfire paralyzed Haiti’s capital on Thursday as a powerful gang leader warned he would try to capture the country’s police chief and government ministers.The move came during the absence of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who is in Kenya trying to finalize details for the deployment...

Study finds that lockdowns and cuts to local services are partly to blameProgress on tackling youth violence in Scotland is slowing as young people struggle to access “safe spaces”, according to a new report.The study, by researchers at the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and the Open University, examined the past, present and future of violence reduction in Scotland and found that while incidences of...

President declares state of ‘internal armed conflict’ as gang leader escapes from jail and gunmen invade TV studioGang storms Ecuador’s TC Televisión studioFew Ecuadoreans were prepared for just how swiftly and steeply the security situation in their country could plummet. Murder and violence linked to drug trafficking has soared, as the country has become one of the most dangerous in Latin America.Until just a...

Ecuador’s president has declared a state of “internal armed conflict”. How did the country find itself in the grip of armed gangs?• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. At about 2pm local time yesterday, a live news broadcast on an Ecuadorian TV channel was interrupted by a group of masked men carrying guns, grenades, and dynamite. The intruders pointed guns...

Gangsters unleashed wave of terror following move by President Daniel Noboa in response to gang leader’s prison escape‘We should treat it as a war’: Ecuador’s descent into drug gang violenceHeavily armed gangsters have stormed the studio of a major television station in Ecuador during a live broadcast, prompting the country’s president to declare a state of “internal armed conflict” amid a series of seemingly...