Chaos and violence is once more erupting in Haiti, where armed clashes between warring violent gangs are once more forcing residents to flee their homes under a hail of bullets.
How dangerous are things right now? The head of the country’s disarmament commission narrowly escaped harm Tuesday morning along with his driver when their car was hit with a spray of gunfire.
A United Nations helicopter was reportedly hit with a bullet while parked on a runway in Port-au-Prince. A photo of the damage was making the rounds on social media. The helicopter is used to ferry UN workers to remote locations in the country.
The state of siege on the eastern edge of the capital began around 4 a.m. Sunday, say residents, and have stalled everything from public transportation to the operation of street markets between Croix-des-Missions and Bon-Repon, the sprawling encampment where victims of the 2010 earthquake sought refuge after the disaster.
“We are practically paralyzed here,” said a local resident and pastor named Steeve, who declined to give his last name, and was marking his third day separated from his family because of the shootings. “We cannot do anything.”
It is unclear how many people have died or been shot since the violence broke out — neither police nor members of the government have made any official statements, and the Haiti National Police spokesman did not respond to a phone call.
Human Rights group contacted by the Miami Herald say it’s “impossible” to know at the moment how many casualties there have been, and they are still trying to understand what’s behind the violence.
The violence is the latest chapter of chaos in a politically unstable and volatile Haiti where for days, long lines have been forming at fueling stations because of empty tanks; and security issues over the weekend led to U.S. airlines delaying takeoff after they were informed there was no jet fuel at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport and they would need to bring their own.
In one instance, an American Airlines flight was forced to refuel in neighboring Santo Domingo before heading back to Miami.
“Haiti is blocked,” said Pierre Espérance, a leading human rights defender, who said his National Human Rights Defense Network counted several dozen residents at a public park who were forced to leave their homes because of the shooting.
“We are in a situation where the only thing you can think about is your security. Not schooling, not anything else. There is no living here. The insecurity situation has paralyzed the country … If you don’t have a need to go out in Haiti, you don’t go out.”
Last week, a group of U.S. lawmakers including representatives Gregory W. Meeks and Michael McCaul, chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a letter condemning death threats against Espérance and the staff of his National Human Rights Defense Network.
The threats against Espérance were in retaliation for his work, the letter said, and “ are extremely alarming.”
“Any further attempts to silence, intimidate, harass, threaten, or cause harm to Mr. Espérance or RNDDH staff are intolerable,” the letter said. “We call on the Haitian authorities to investigate any threats made against Mr. Espérance and take all necessary steps to ensure his safety and the safety of his colleagues.”
In addition to Espérance, the outspoken head of a disarmament commission, Jean Rebel Dorcenat, said Tuesday that he was also “under a threat of violence,” after his car was shot up by unknown individuals. Dorcenat said the incident occurred Tuesday morning and he and his driver were unharmed.
Residents in the neighborhoods currently under gang attack have described the violence as “shocking” and “scary.” It is fanning fears, they say, that the sprawling area of Croix-des-Bouquets and La Plain, which connects the capital to the Central Plateau and the border with the neighboring Dominican Republic, could become Haiti’s next No Man’s Land after Martissant, the gang-ridden neighborhood to the south.
Since June, armed groups have forced the displacement of over 20,000 Haitians from their homes in Martissant and surrounding communities, and cut off Port-au-Prince from four regional departments in the south, including those devastated by last year’s deadly earthquake. The violence has made it impossible for anyone to cross without risking being kidnapped or killed.
In the cases where people have been able to cross, they’ve had to pay gangs for passage, which still offers no guarantees against violence.
Should Croix-des-Bouquets fall completely into the hands of gangs, it would leave Port-au-Prince with just one access, its northern entrance, to the rest of the country. And even there, there are no guarantees, with gang clashes near the seaport and airport also turning deadly at times.
At the center of the current violence are two gangs: One is known as Chen Mechan, which translate to “Naughty Dog,” and they other is 400 Mawozo, the armed group that was behind last year’s kidnapping of 17 missionaries who worked for an Ohio-based charity and a group of Catholic clergy earlier in the year. The gangs are said to be fighting over territory after 400 Mawozo tried to install one of its leaders in the other gang’s territory.
A voice note circulating on social media has warned the Haitian police to stay out of the fight.
Esperance said while police officers are implicated in that they have close ties to gang members, the Haitian authorities need to remove the power from the gangs by cracking down on the illegal importation of arms and ammunition at the country’s seaports, especially the main port in Port-au-Prince.
Until then, residents like Steeve say they are being held hostage to the violence.
“That is our biggest worry,” he said, wondering out loud if he will be able to find a motorcycle to take him to go see his four traumatized kids and wife in nearby Tabarre, the same Port-au-Prince suburb where the U.S. Embassy is located. H knows people who have been shot, Steeve said, and his brother’s house was hit with a bullet.
“The people today have no refuge,” Steeve said. “Nowhere is safe in Haiti.”
