Haiti in Chaos: Tension Rises That Threatens Civil War

Attacks on the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, clashes between armed gangs and state forces, and a massive release of prisoners have been part of the scenario in Haiti in recent days, which threatens to descend into civil war as insurgents call for the resignation of Prime Minister Victor Henry.La tension is rising by the second in the Central American country. where violence took hostage the citizens of Port-au-Prince, the capital, controlled for a few days by armed gangs. At the front, the figure of its leader, Jimmy Chérizier – a former policeman – alias Barbecue, who calls for the immediate resignation of the prime minister in exchange for not unleashing a bloody civil war. Faced with a desolate panorama in the warm streets of Haiti, Chérizer urged the international community not to support the prime minister anymore, who had to flee to take refuge in Puerto Rico. where he landed on Tuesday, March 5. In this regard, the current president of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Irfaan Ali – president of Guyana – said that they are “making considerable progress”, but “the stakeholders are not yet where they need to be”. Plunged into chaos, the country witnessed repeated shootings last night in the streets surrounding Haiti’s National Palace in Port-au-Prince, where the situation is close to unleashing a civil war. The episode comes on top of the release of more than 3,000 prisoners in recent days, attacks on the most important international airports in the region and clashes between state forces and gangs organized by Barbecue.The conflict, which began in January 2019 with the aim of obtaining the resignation of the then president, Jovenel Moïse, who was assassinated two days after Henry’s inauguration.With no horizon of tranquility in the Haitian streets, the civilian population is the one who suffers again. According to United Nations (UN) officials, about half of the inhabitants are at risk of famine, and due to the dangerous scenario facing the country, the capital’s main port, Caribbean Port Services, was forced to close, leaving containers full of food and medical supplies adrift. In a statement released through its official website, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti asked its citizens to leave the country urgently in the face of the escalation of violence in the area. In that vein, U.S. President Joe Biden began to increase pressure on Henry to speed up the process of transition of power. Secretary of Defense Anthony Blinken spoke today with President Ali and Prime Minister Henry about the urgent need to accelerate the transition to a broader and more inclusive government,” said the State Department’s head of Latin America and the Caribbean, Brian Nichols, during a debate in Washington. with more political forces and that leads the country towards an electoral process.”

Original source in Spanish