After armed gangs assaulted a major prison in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, resulting in the escape of over 4,000 prisoners and the death of at least 12 persons, the Haitian government issued a 72-hour state of emergency. According to gang leaders, they intend to compel Prime Minister Ariel Henry—who is currently overseas—to quit. In Port-au-Prince, the factions trying to remove him hold almost 80% of the territory. Since 2020, many have died in the nation as a result of violent gang conflicts. Two jails, one in the capital and the other in the neighboring town of Croix des Bouquets, were besieged over the weekend, according to a government statement.
It declared that the “disobedience” constituted a threat to national security and, in reaction, it enacted an urgent curfew that began at 20:00 local time on Monday, January 1st, GMT. Gang members charged with President Jovenel Moïse’s 2021 assassination were among those held in Port-au-Prince. When the prime minister went to Nairobi on Thursday to talk about dispatching a multinational security force to Haiti under the command of Kenya, that’s when the most recent wave of violence started. The “Barbecue” gang boss Jimmy Chérizier announced a planned takedown in an attempt to get rid of him. “We are all together, the armed groups in the capital and the armed groups in the province towns,” declared the ex-policeman, who is believed to be responsible for multiple atrocities in Port-au-Prince.
Although the biggest prison in the capital, Haiti, had been requested by the police union to be reinforced by the military, the compound was attacked late on Saturday. The Reuters news agency said that the prison’s doors were still open on Sunday and that no guards were visible. According to the report, three prisoners who attempted to escape lay dead in the courtyard. When a journalist from the AFP news agency visited the prison, she saw about ten dead, some of whom showed evidence of bullet wounds.
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