The situation has continued to deteriorate in Port-au-Prince since the resignation of disputed Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The capital of the island, which a long time ago was called the pearl of the Antilles, is prey to a violent war between gangs who control a large part of the territory in the face of a powerless police force.
This Saturday, a crowd invaded a police station to kidnap two individuals who were carrying a sum of nearly $20,000 to buy and supply weapons and ammunition to local gangs, state police said on their social networks.
According to the Guardian, the crowd lynched the two individuals to the point of killing them with knives, without the police, present on the spot, being able to prevent this double killing. The event highlights the distress of the population who survive in a daily life marked by score-settling and attacks against what remains of the institutions of a completely collapsed state.
Also readCrisis in Haiti: how a police officer became “Barbecue”, the most powerful gang leader in Port-au-Prince
Throughout the month of March, the gangs in Port-au-Prince targeted the police stations, the main international airport which was closed and especially the two largest prisons in the country where the leader of the most powerful gang, nicknamed Barbecue, released more than 4,000 detainees. The latter also regularly launches attacks on the national palace, seat of the deposed government.
In 2023, according to a report by the United Nations Human Rights Office, the number of people killed and injured due to gang violence increased significantly in 2023, with 4,451 killed and 1,668 injured. And the figures continue to increase since the start of 2024 with 1,554 killed and 826 injured as of March 22. Still according to this report, due to this escalation of violence, “self-defense brigades” were set up to take justice into their own hands. “At least 528 cases of lynching were reported in 2023 and another 59 in 2024.”
This Friday, the French Navy evacuated, with helicopters and ships, a group of 243 people, including 163 French nationals, to Martinique. Three vessels of the National Navy have arrived in Fort-de-France, indicated during a press conference the prefect of Martinique and the senior commander of the Armed Forces in the Antilles.
