Following an upsurge in violence over the weekend, which saw armed gangs fighting with police at the National Penitentiary, authorities in Haiti claim they are implementing a curfew at night. Following the violence, a 72-hour state of emergency has been imposed. An official told VOA that during a gunfight between armed gangs and national police on Saturday night, thousands of prisoners left Haiti’s National Penitentiary, which is located in the country’s capital. Ariel Henry, the prime minister of Haiti, is presently away.
He visited Kenya last week and inked a bilateral agreement to permit the appointment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers to head an international security force. The force was authorized by the UN to assist Haiti in reestablishing security and fighting gang violence. On Sunday, it remained unknown where the prime minister was. When VOA asked the Kenyan president William Ruto’s office for Henry’s location, they didn’t reply. Regarding the events in Haiti, the Henry administration has not made any formal statements. Regarding the weekend violence, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti has not yet made any public remarks.
When VOA journalists visited the penitentiary in Port-au-Prince’s downtown on Sunday, they observed bodies both inside and outside the structure. An engineer said he was collaborating with the national police to assess the situation on Sunday morning. He asked to stay nameless because he was not authorized to talk on behalf of law enforcement personnel. According to the engineer, 99 inmates were still housed in the jail. He said that around 4,000 inmates had previously been housed at the facility. He declared that he was ill-prepared to speculate on the number of inmates that perished in the jailbreak. He stated that bystanders caught in the crossfire were among the deceased outside the building, and the police commissioner would release official figures at a later time.
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