~theguardian-world | Bookmarks (31)

Critics condemn ‘reckless and cruel’ expulsions and say deportees likely to be targeted by armed gangs who control much of countryMore than 70 Haitians expelled from the United States have been flown back to Haiti on the first deportation flight since heavily armed gangs launched a bloody insurrection which has paralysed the capital and forced the prime minister from office.The flight, which landed in...

Coalition of civil society groups says Paris should return harsh reparations imposed on Caribbean state two hundred years agoFrance should repay billions of dollars to Haiti to cover a debt formerly enslaved people were forced to pay in return for recognising the island’s independence, according to a coalition of civil society groups that is launching a new push for reparations.The Caribbean island state became...

Correspondents in Port-au-Prince face danger as they play a vital role in chronicling city’s state of siegeEach day, Makenson Rémy wakes in the hush of the night to tell the story of his shattered home town, Port-au-Prince. Each day, he fears he might die. “I am very worried for the city. I am worried for my family. I am worried for myself too, because...

Delivering a baby was already risky, but an unprecedented surge in gang violence has forced clinics and hospitals to closeThe worst fears of midwives at Heartline Haiti were realised last week. As they prepared the maternity clinic for patients that evening, armed men laid siege to their neighbourhood in eastern Port-au-Prince, spraying bullets at police and rival gangs, setting cars on fire and ransacking...

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...

Killings underscore how outnumbered police are in Haiti after months of attacks and kidnappings by gangsTwo men in Haiti were hacked to death by a mob who thought they were buying weapons for gangs, police said Saturday.Police confirmed the crowd snatched the men from police custody after they were found with about $20,000 (£16,000) and the equivalent of about $43,000 in Haitian cash in...

Haiti has erupted into violence after gangs laid waste to the capital and forced the prime minister to resign. But Haitians are wary from bitter experience of outside forces intervening to find a solution to the crisisA few weeks ago, two of the main criminal gangs in Haiti joined forces, staging a full-scale insurrection while the prime minister, Ariel Henry, was travelling abroad. Thousands...

State department organizes evacuation after nearly 1,600 US citizens ask for help amid reports of continuing violence in capitalThe United States has said it was starting to evacuate its citizens out of Haiti by helicopter, amid reports of fresh fighting in the Caribbean country’s gang-dominated capital, with particularly fierce gunfire in some of the city’s wealthiest enclaves.A state department spokesperson, Vedant Patel, told reporters...

Gunmen looted homes in Laboule and Thomassin, forcing residents to flee previously peaceful neighborhoods• Haiti: what caused the gang violence and will it end now the PM has quit?Gunmen have assaulted two upscale neighborhoods in Haiti’s capital in an attack that left at least a dozen people dead in surrounding areas and suggested that a gang insurrection that prompted the prime minister to resign...

More than 30 Americans arrive in Miami from Cap-Haïten as US urges citizens to leave ‘as soon as possible’ amid gang violenceA charter flight carrying dozens of US citizens fleeing spiraling gang violence in Haiti landed on Sunday in Miami, state department officials said.More than 30 US citizens were on the government-chartered flight, officials said in a statement. It arrived in Miami’s international airport...

Only a single hospital in Port-au-Prince remains open, with others devoid of staff as patients look for care and the dead pile upHaiti’s healthcare system has all but collapsed amid the ferocious gang insurrection which forced the resignation of the country’s prime minister, leaving victims of the violence with little hope of medical attention, according to aid workers in the stricken Caribbean country.In the...

Experts say most guns smuggled from states with lax firearms laws such as Florida, Arizona and GeorgiaAs Haiti has again plunged into violent chaos, images of gang members bearing high-powered rifles, pump-action shotguns or automatic weapons in the streets of Port-au-Prince have become ubiquitous.But this weaponry is not made in Haiti, a country with no firearms or ammunition manufacturing capabilities. Continue reading...

Plan for transitional council to rule after prime minister’s resignation brings strong sense of deja vuScenes of unrest in Haiti, as Ariel Henry announced his resignation as prime minister amid a violent gang uprising, have brought a strong sense of deja vu.An international proposal for a transitional council to rule the country appeared to be crumbling on Wednesday. But those jostling for influence are...

Henry urges people to remain calm while his government is replaced by a transitional councilThe embattled Haitian prime minister, Ariel Henry, has resigned after a gang insurrection against his government plunged the country into anarchy and prevented his return from a trip to Kenya.Henry, who is now in Puerto Rico, said he would formally quit after the installation of a transitional council to lead...

Officials say marines deployed for night-time evacuation amid intense fighting in Port-au-Prince, while German and EU representatives also leaveThe US military has carried out an operation in Haiti to airlift non-essential embassy personnel from the country and added US forces to bolster embassy security, after dozens of heavily armed gang fighters tried to seize the political quarter of its capital, Port-au-Prince.The German foreign ministry...

Jimmy Chérizier says he is leading Haiti’s poor against corrupt government forces but experts point to a dark and violent pastHaiti: what caused the gang violence crisis and what might happen next?Murals in the pauperized Haitian slums he rules liken him to the Argentinian guerrilla Ernesto “Che” Guevara.In interviews, he poses as a God-fearing Caribbean Robin Hood and celebrates freedom fighters and agitators including...

National palace guards set up security ring after gangs attack at least three police stations in Port-au-PrinceExplainer: what caused Haiti’s gang violence crisisPolice and palace guards worked on Saturday to retake some streets in Haiti’s capital after gangs launched massive attacks on at least three police stations.Guards from the National Palace accompanied by an armored truck tried to set up a security perimeter around...

Large-scale gang assault on multiple government buildings in capital reported as violence causes political crisis to spiral out of controlExplainer: what caused Haiti’s gang violence crisisHeavy gunfire was seen on Friday near Haiti’s national palace in its capital of Port-au-Prince, according to reports by news agency EFE, as political turmoil sparked by prime minister Ariel Henry’s absence continued.Haiti entered a state of emergency last...

Silence from Ariel Henry, who remains abroad, as Jimmy Chérizier, AKA ‘Barbecue’, warns country will ‘become a paradise or a hell’What led to the Haiti jailbreak – and can democracy be restored?The crime lord behind a six-day gang mutiny against Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, has claimed the Caribbean country could be plunged into civil war unless its temporarily exiled leader steps down.Wearing an...

Washington says no despite ‘frantic’ talks between diplomats, as bodies lie in street and army battles gun-toting gang membersWhat led to the Haiti jailbreak – and can democracy be restored?The United States has said it will not send troops to Haiti after a stunning eruption of gang violence seemingly designed to bring down the Caribbean nation’s enfeebled government and its unpopular prime minister, Ariel...

In today’s newsletter: With gangs controlling Port-au-Prince and a UN-backed international force still not on the ground, is there any prospect of democratic control?• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. It is seven years since Haiti held an election, almost three years since the president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated, and more than a year since the last elected officials left...

Armed gangs attack international airport and free over 3,800 prisoners in seemingly coordinated effort to oust Ariel HenryHaiti crisis: how did it get so bad, what is the role of gangs, and is there a way out?The future of Haiti’s government appeared increasingly uncertain on Monday, after armed gangs attacked the country’s international airport and freed more than 3,800 prisoners this weekend in what...

Attack on two prisons comes amid outbreak of violence as PM in Kenya trying to salvage UN-backed security forceHaiti’s government has declared a state of emergency and a night-time curfew in a bid to regain control of the streets after an explosion of violence over the weekend saw armed gang members storm the country’s two biggest prisons, with thousands of inmates escaping.The 72-hour state...

It’s not clear if the new agreement can circumvent the Kenyan high court’s earlier ruling that such a deployment is unconstitutionalKenya and Haiti have a security deal to try to salvage a plan for Nairobi to deploy 1,000 police officers to the troubled Caribbean nation to help combat gang violence that has surged to unprecedented levels.Kenya agreed in October to lead a UN-authorized international...