According to Xinhua News Agency, citing Haitian media reports, two prisons in Haiti were attacked by local gang organizations from March 2 to 3, resulting in the death of at least 12 people and the escape of thousands of prisoners.
The Haitian Ministry of Communications issued a communiqué on the 3rd saying that the National Prison in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the Croix-Debouquet Prison on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince were attacked on the evening of the 2nd, and the attacks continued until the 3rd. The bulletin did not specify the casualties caused by the attack.
According to statistics from a local human rights organization, the attack has resulted in the death of at least 12 people, and it is estimated that thousands of prisoners took the opportunity to escape.
A gunfight broke out in the prison
According to Xinhua News Agency, Haiti was originally scheduled to hold an election before February 7 this year, but it was not held as scheduled, causing social dissatisfaction. Since February 29, multiple gang organizations in Haiti have attacked public facilities such as the police station, police academy, and international airport in Port-au-Prince, demanding that Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down.
So far, at least 9 people have been killed in Port-au-Prince, 4 of them policemen. Gangster groups have targeted police stations, international airports and even the national football stadium. An employee of the national football stadium was also held hostage by a gang for several hours.
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The Haitian human rights organization National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (rnddh) stated that the Haitian National Prison could only hold a maximum of 700 prisoners, but as of February 2023, the prison had held 3,687 prisoners. The Croix-Debouquet prison on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince housed about 1,400 prisoners before the attack and was also overcrowded. Pierre Esperance, a member of
rnddh, said that there were an estimated 3,800 inmates in Haiti's national prison at the time of the attack on the night of March 2, and only about 100 of them remained in the prison after the attack.
"We counted the bodies of many prisoners," Esperance added.
"I was the only one left in the cell." An unidentified prisoner revealed, "We were sleeping when we heard gunshots. The cell door was also broken." On the night of March 2, Violence appeared to be widespread, with shootings reported in several neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince.
It is worth noting that several Colombian veterans accused of participating in the assassination of former Haitian President Moise in 2021 are also detained in national prisons, their Haitian lawyer Samuel Madistin said , has spoken with its own clients who say there are currently few inmates in state prisons.
Madistin said only those who were too old or physically disabled to flee, and those accused in Moise's assassination, stayed because they feared they would be hunted after leaving prison. .
Several people in this group shared videos on social platforms to ask for help from the outside world on the evening of March 3. One of them, a man named Francisco Uribe, said: "Please, please help us. They are in the cell. Indiscriminate killing."
Video circulated on social platforms on March 3 showed reporters walking around parts of the national prison, with most cells empty of prisoners. The doors to the state prison were open and there were no guards in sight, but the prison was surrounded by police cars. Inside the state prison, plastic sandals, clothing and furniture were strewn across a concrete patio. A dozen bodies, some with gunshot wounds, also lay at the entrance to the state prison.
Sources say the "vast majority" of state prison inmates are likely to have escaped.
The attack was premeditated?
According to reports, the state prison has been monitored by gangster groups via drones since February 29. At least two police unions in Haiti asked all police officers to report to national prisons on social platforms on March 2 to help control the situation and prevent prisoners from escaping.
"If we let criminal gangs take over the prisons, we are screwed. No one in the capital will be spared," the national police union SNPH-17 wrote in a tweet on x.
Lionel Lazar, coordinator of the National Union of Haitian Police, said: “The attack was obvious.He added that the gang members were not trying to hide their plans to close the prison and that "the authorities were indifferent to the matter and did not take the information seriously and did not take adequate measures to increase security."
A senior officer in charge of police operations in Port-au-Prince Police officer Ernst Dorfeuille said the local internet was down at the time of the attack, making it difficult to assess the situation. However, he said most of the prisoners appeared to have escaped. He added, "These criminal gangs gathered in together, so the attack worked in their favor. "
Afterwards, the Haitian government said in a statement that police had tried to repel gang attacks on the national prison and Croix-Debouquet prison. The Haitian government said the attacks resulted in "several injuries" to prison staff and prisoners. .
The Haitian government also warned people to be careful and called on them to "continue to support the national police."
Due to the recent trip of Haiti's acting President and Prime Minister Ariel Henry, Haitian Finance Minister Patrick Boivert (Patrick Boivert) served as acting The Prime Minister, in a statement, declared a 72-hour state of emergency in Haiti and imposed a curfew. "The police are ordered to use all available legal means to enforce the curfew and arrest all violators," Boivert said in the statement.
Is the situation getting out of control?
Jimmy Chérizier, a former senior police officer nicknamed "Barbecue" who now controls a gang alliance, claimed responsibility for the attacks on March 2 and 3. He said the goal of the attack was to capture the Haitian police chief and government ministers and prevent Henry from returning and "overthrow the remnants of the Haitian government."
Cherizier had said in a video speech on February 29, "We demand that the Haitian National Police and the military took responsibility and arrested (acting president and prime minister) Ariel Henry. Again, the people are not our enemy; armed groups are not your enemy. You should arrest Ariel Henry for the liberation of your country. "
"With our guns and the people of Haiti, we will liberate this country. ” Cherizil said.
In less than two weeks since February 29, multiple state institutions in Haiti have been attacked by gangs, and these gangs are acting in an increasingly coordinated manner and have chosen institutions like the Central Bank. Such a once unimaginable goal.
According to the United Nations, there are approximately 9,000 national police officers in Haiti, providing security for more than 11 million people across the country. However, they are often suppressed by gangs and lose their weapons. It is estimated that gang organizations have now Controls 80% of Port-au-Prince.
Romain le Cour, a security analyst at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, a non-governmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, said, "Honestly, in this situation In this case, the (Haitian) national power was absolutely absent and maintained absolute silence. LeCour added that some of the violence may have been planned for weeks.
LeCour said that although Haitian authorities have been losing ground for years, the past few days have shown that the balance of power among gang groups has changed. A “critical shift” was achieved and “this may be the first time these directed, targeted attacks have occurred. This is not like before, now these gang organizations are out in full force."
According to Xinhua News Agency, on July 7, 2021, Haiti's then President Jovenel Moise was assassinated, leaving a power vacuum and gangs becoming more rampant. , crimes such as kidnapping, rape and murder surged. Prime Minister Henry, who then took office, promised to hold elections as soon as the security situation was guaranteed, but he repeatedly postponed parliamentary and presidential elections.
When the latest attack occurred, Henry was visiting Kenya to discuss with Kenya President Ruto finalized the details of deploying a multinational security support mission to Haiti.
Kenya originally received support from the United Nations and was preparing to send peacekeeping troops to Haiti. However, a Kenyan court ruled at the end of January 2024 that the plan was unconstitutional and illegal and should not be implement.
According to reports, during Henry's visit, Haiti and Kenya have reached a reciprocal agreement on police cooperation, allowing Kenya to deploy 1,000 police officers in Haiti. Ruto said he and Henry had "discussed next steps to enable rapid deployment," but it was unclear whether the agreement would violate a Kenyan court ruling in January.
Countries currently known to be willing to participate in this multinational operation include, in addition to Latin American island countries such as Jamaica and the Bahamas, the West African country Benin, which has expressed its willingness to send 2,000 troops.
Lawyers for the Kenyan opposition announced that they questioned the legitimacy of the current Haitian government and the validity of the agreement between Kenya and Haiti. In addition, Kenya did not have the funds needed to implement this multinational operation-the relevant funds required US$600 million.
