The first two weeks of the gang rampage left Haiti stunned by the chaos: The legacy of the coup that killed Jean-Bertrand Aristide
On Thursday, gangs continued their rampage across the capital Port-au-Prince. Workers were fixing the damage from previous attacks when they were shot at.
During that period there has been no leadership, no law and order in the capital and a dwindling supply of humanitarian aid. The country has been cut off from the outside world.
The chaos of the last two weeks is something that has never been seen before in a country with a history of coups, assassinations and gang violence.
The violence comes just a couple of days after the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Henry, as part of a deal brokered by regional and international governments to install a new transitional prime minister.
Some prominent gang leaders have rejected the plan, saying it doesn’t represent the will of the Haitian people. The gangs have threatened more violence as a means to oppose the plan.
Guy Philippe was a former senator and ex-chief of police who was one of the leaders of the 1991 coup that deposed Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In the United Stats, he pleaded guilty to drug-related money laundering and when he was deported back to Haiti a few months ago, he started organizing big anti-government protests.
He tells NPR the problem with the current political transition deal is that it allows seven traditional politicians to choose the way forward in Haiti.
The guys were the same people that worked with Henry for three years. The same name, the same organizations, with no popular support. I don’t know why the international community wants to take that path,” Philippe says.
No gangs were involved when the international community announced the deal. “That we know of” was the correct phrase after he was corrected. To Philippe, that spoke to what he calls an open secret: that traditional politicians in Haiti are the ones who he alleges created the gangs to begin with. They funded and they armed them, he claims.
This NPR team made its way to Haiti’s second-largest city of Cap-Hatien after crossing the border with the Dominican Republic. In many ways what we’ve seen is normal. People are buying groceries while restaurants are open. There were bars and music in Cap-Hatien, which used to be a tourist hub.
Things don’t take long before you start to notice that something isn’t right. Fuel is running out, the towns up and down this northern coast are in complete darkness. The crisis started after President Jovenel Mose was killed.
A large group of Haitians are trying to get away from this place so they can try to cross the border into the Dominican Republic.
Most of the people who speak to NPR say they are happy that in these parts of Haiti, at least, the gunfire has stopped. They say that before Prime Minister Henry promised to resign, they heard nonstop gunfire in the evening. Some schools and universities have reopened.
A lot of desolation is what they express. Haitians feel abandoned. They feel that after their president was killed, no one has been listening. They don’t just mean the international community — but also their country’s politicians.
For a long time there was a government in Haiti that did not know how poor people lived. “We want new leadership, so we can have elections and know what’s going on,” he said.
Source: A glimpse of the chaos in Haiti, a country reeling with effectively no leader
The OB-GYN: How health workers are targeted in gangs? A case study in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Ever since he graduated high school, he says, he’s been trying to build a life. But it’s hard because the only job he seems to be able to get is to shuttle luggage for travelers from one border to another. He used to earn enough money to pay for a place to live. It’s just enough to eat these days.
A week ago, the OB- GYN told them their pregnant cousin needed a C-section to deliver her baby. It was night time. She was worried about going too far. It was her mother who made the trek to the hospital. The doctor says that there wasn’t enough electricity or oxygen to perform the procedure, which resulted in their cousin’s death.
A doctor says two of his colleagues were kidnapped on their way to the hospital in December. It’s not unusual for people to tell gangs where health workers are. The doctor says that sometimes a patient might set up an appointment with him, but it’s a trap. “This is why sometimes doctors do not answer [calls] at night [from] unknown people.”
Ultimately, the OB-GYN’s two colleagues were released, but the doctor says they weren’t the same — one spent a week crying and the other refused to talk about what happened and cut off ties with his social circle.
The OB-GYN isn’t sure why the gangs are targeting health workers — one observer notes that everybody is being targeted, “from the merchant at the street corner to bank CEOs.” The doctor believes that health workers are likely to be kidnapped because they have a belief that people will pay a ransom and that they need medical care.
Most of the gangs are entrenched in the cities and the state of health care there is bad. But it’s a nationwide issue. Haiti’s political and social upheavals are affecting the health of the population because Port-au-Prince is the government and economic hub of the country.
Hospitals and clinics are seeing more frequent power cuts because of the explosion of violence in the last few weeks. Oxygen and medication are in short supply. As a result, even if people manage to get to a health center, they may not receive the care they need.
The health-care group is able to keep their emergency care running because of their reduced capacity. But Dr. Wesler Lambert, the group’s director, worries that emergency services could give out at any moment.
Source: ‘This is not a time to get sick,’ says a doctor in Haiti on the health-care crisis
The Haitian Street Gangs are Getting Sick – Says a Doctor in Haiti on the Health-Care Crisis
Transfusions are but one casualty in the turmoil gripping Haiti. Street gangs have been a part of the country for decades, but in the last few years they’ve become increasingly powerful and violent. In March of this year, the gangs seized the chance to band together, because Prime Minister Henry was in the country negotiating a security force to Haiti. They shuttered the airport, attacked police stations and freed several thousand prisoners.
Many Haitians are prevented from getting basic services because of this rampage. Gangs have been looting hospitals, forcing some to close. Lambert said he’s needed a police escort inside an armored vehicle just to make it to work.
In response to these actions, Henry agreed to step down earlier this week. The gangs are now demanding a political role in whatever comes next. Gang leaders are holding press conferences even as their members hold much of the capital of Port-au-Prince hostage, terrorize the country at large and kidnap people — including children, women and health workers.
“I had a call from a friend seeking care for a family member,” says Dr. Wesler Lambert, executive director of the nonprofit Zanmi Lasante, affiliated with Partners in Health and Haiti’s largest health-care provider outside the government. “They wanted [a] blood transfusion for him.” He was willing to donate blood, but it wasn’t safe enough for his family to go to the hospital.
“If we don’t get fuel, the hospital will stop,” he says. “So we have to buy fuel at double the usual price.” Even with fuel, however, straightforward medical procedures often stall out.
Source: ‘This is not a time to get sick,’ says a doctor in Haiti on the health-care crisis
Inspiring fear in internally displaced children and girls: a situation in Port-au-Prince where gangs are using rape to instill fear
“We ask everyone to check that everything is alright before they leave for work, and if there are any issues or uncertainty, we want them to go back to their families and seek shelter,” she says.
“People are living in extreme vulnerability,” says Carlotta Pianigiani, an emergency coordinator with the Alliance for International Medical Action, a nongovernmental group that offers emergency medical care in conflict zones, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health. She is based in Port-au-Prince. Those who are displaced “are living in camps. They are living in schools, in classrooms, in governmental buildings. They are asleep. Sometimes they have two latrines for 5,000 people.”
All of this is happening at a time when 362,000 people are internally displaced and gangs are using rape and sexual violence as a weapon to instill fear. The combination is toxic and it impacts the health of the people.
Rural areas may be a bit safer from gang activity but there are other issues. Drugs that are needed in rural areas are often stuck inside Port-au-Prince, because gangs guarding both main roads leave the capital to the north and south and drivers risk being robbed and killed or kidnapped.