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06-01-2025
GUATEMALA CITY: A contingent of 150 Guatemalan soldiers has arrived in Haiti, tasked with helping to restore order amid the chaos wrought by armed gangs.
A first group of 75 soldiers arrived on Friday and another 75 on Saturday, all drafted from the military police, according to Guatemala’s government.
A state of emergency has been in place across the Caribbean nation for months as the government battles violent gangs that have taken control of much of the capital Port-au-Prince.
The forces are in Haiti to boost a United Nations-backed security mission led by Kenya that has so far failed to prevent violence from escalating.
Kenya sent nearly 400 police officers in June and July last year to help combat the gangs.
This was the first tranche of an UN-approved international force that will be made up of 2,500 officers from various countries.
A small number of forces from Jamaica, Belize and El Salvador are also in Haiti as part of the mission and the US is the operation’s largest funder.
In March 2024, armed gangs stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, freeing around 3,700 inmates.
The Ouest Department – a region including Port-au-Prince was originally put under a state of emergency on 3 March, after escalating violence gripped the capital.
Chronic instability, dictatorships and natural disasters in recent decades have left Haiti the poorest nation in the Americas.
In 2021, President Jovenel Moise was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in Port-au-Prince.
Since then the country has been wracked by economic chaos, little functioning political control and increasingly violent gang warfare.
In March last year Haiti’s government was declared a 72-hour state of emergency on after armed gangs stormed a major prison. At least 12 people were killed and about 3,700 inmates escaped in the jailbreak.
Gang leaders are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whose whereabouts are unknown since he travelled to Kenya.
Gangs control around 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Gang violence has plagued Haiti for years.
A government statement said two prisons one in Port-au-Prince and the other in nearby Croix des Bouquets were stormed over the weekend.
It said the acts of “disobedience” were a threat to national security and said it was instituting an immediate night-time curfew in response, which started at 20:00 local time.
Haitian media reported that police stations were attacked, distracting authorities before the coordinated assault on the jails.
Speaking to media from Haiti, Serge Dalexis from the International Rescue Committee said that many police stations were under gang control on Friday, with “many police killed over the weekend”.
Among those detained in Port-au-Prince were suspects charged in connection with the 2021 killing of President Jovenel Moise.
Gang violence has further escalated since his assassination in 2021. Moise has not been replaced and presidential elections have not been held since 2016.
In the capital, gangs have erected barricades to prevent security forces from encroaching on their territory, while their strongholds in Port-au-Prince’s vast shantytowns are still largely on lockdown. (Int’l News Desk)
