[ad_1]
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Gangs in Haiti have long been funded by powerful politicians and their allies – and many Haitians fear these supporters will lose control of the increasingly powerful armed groups who have driven out thousands of people from their homes as they fight for territory, kill civilians and loot food warehouses.
Escalating gang violence threatens to complicate – and be made worse by – political efforts to recover from the brazen murder of President Jovenel Moïse last week. The government of Haiti is in disarray; no parliament, no president, a dispute over who is the prime minister, a weak police force. But the gangs seem more organized and powerful than ever.
As the violence has focused in the capital of Port-au-Prince, it has affected life across Haiti, crippling the fragile economy, closing schools, overwhelming police and disrupting efforts to fight the pandemic of COVID-19.
“The country is turning into a vast desert where wild animals engulf us,” said the Haitian Conference of Religious in a recent statement denouncing the surge in violent crime. “We are refugees and exiles in our own country.
Gangs have recently stolen tens of thousands of bags of sugar, rice and flour as well as ransacked and torched homes in the capital. This has prompted thousands of people to seek refuge in churches, open-air grounds and a large gymnasium, where the government and international donors are struggling to feed them and find long-term housing.
These included dozens of people with disabilities who were forced to flee last month when gangs torched the camp where they settled after being injured in the catastrophic 2010 earthquake.
“I was running for my life in the camp on these crutches,” said Obas Woylky, 44, who lost a leg in the quake. “The bullets were flying from different directions. … All I could see was fire in the houses.
He was one of more than 350 people crammed into a school turned into a makeshift shelter where hardly anyone wore disease masks.
A cigarette hung from the mouth of an older woman washing clothes in a large bowl as a group of children took turns shaking a single blue marble. Nearby, a teenage girl crouched down next to an elderly blind man sitting on the concrete floor and brought a small bag of water to her mouth.
Experts say the violence is the worst they have seen in about two decades – since before a second UN peacekeeping mission was established in 2004.
Programs to curb gang activity and an influx of aid after the earthquake helped alleviate some of the problem, but once that money dried up and aid programs shut down , gangs have turned to kidnapping and extortion of the businesses and neighborhoods they control.
The gangs are partly funded by powerful politicians, a practice recently denounced even by one of its reputable beneficiaries – Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer who heads a gang coalition known as the G9 Family and Allies.
He complained that the country was being taken “hostage” by people he did not identify: “They reign supreme everywhere, distribute weapons to working-class neighborhoods, play the card of division to establish their domination. “.
Cherizier, known as “Barbecue”, has been linked to several massacres and his coalition is said to be allied with the right-wing party of Moïse. He criticized those he called “bourgeois” and “exploiters”, adding: “We will use our weapons against them in favor of the Haitian people. … We are ready for war!
Cherizier held a press conference on Saturday and called Moses’ murder “cowardly and villainous,” saying that while many disagreed with him, “no one wanted this tragic outcome which will worsen the crisis and will amplify political instability ”.
He also issued a veiled warning: “We invite all those who try to profit from this coup to think carefully, to ask if they have in their hands the appropriate solution to the country’s problems.
Cherizier added that he and others will seek justice for Moses: “We are only getting warmer. “
The G9 is one of 30 gangs that officials say control nearly half of Port-au-Prince. Their names range from “5 seconds” – how long it would take them allegedly to commit a crime – to “400 Mawozo” – which means approximately 400 lame men.
The epicenter of recent gang violence is Martissant, a community south of Port-au-Prince whose main road connects the capital to southern Haiti. Drivers’ fear of being caught in the crossfire or worse has nearly crippled trade relations between the two regions, driving up prices, delaying the transport of food and fuel and forcing international organizations to cancel programs including the distribution of fuel. money to more than 30,000 people, according to a July 1 report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The agency said more than a million people are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance and protection.
“Newly displaced people seek refuge in shelters every day,” he said, adding that the hygiene there was “appalling”. Authorities are worried about a spike in COVID-19 cases in a country that has yet to administer a single vaccine.
“The escalation of violence on an almost daily basis is expected to last for some time,” the agency said in a report.
The global economy is not helping. The UN said the cost of a basic food basket rose 13 percent in May from February, and foreign direct investment fell more than 70 percent from 2018 to 2020, from 105 million. dollars to $ 30 million. This translates into fewer jobs and increased poverty in a country where 60% of the population earns less than $ 2 a day and 25% less than $ 1 a day.
Many also fear that the gangs could derail the elections scheduled for September and November – a crucial contest to restore the functional legislative and executive powers now largely moribund in the wake of the murder of Moses.
But Haitian election minister Mathias Pierre said on Saturday that those who back the gangs might want to disrupt the elections. Such times usually see an upsurge in violence as groups attempt to use fear to nullify the advantages of their rivals.
He said it wouldn’t work this time, noting that countries have held elections even during wars. “We need to organize elections. … They must back off.
Haiti’s Office for the Protection of Citizens, a sort of mediation agency, urged the international community to help the Haitian National Police, which it said was “unable to respond effectively to the country’s gangsterization. “.
Pierre said that the lack of resources and the weakness of the Haitian police force led the government to ask the United States and the United Nations to send troops to help maintain order after the murder of Moses: “We have the responsibility to avoid chaos.
Officials say they have tried to increase the budget and manpower of a police force that now has around 9,000 operational officers for a country of more than 11 million people. Experts say it takes at least 30,000 officers to maintain control.
The government is also trying to find out where to place people who have fled their homes because of the violence, such as Marjorie Benoit, 43, her husband and their three children.
Benoit, who lost an arm in the earthquake, said they fled as gunshots crackled through their neighborhood. She has now also lost her house and all their belongings.
“We have been uprooted,” she said, “and we don’t know where to start. ”
[ad_2]
Source link