Heavy gunfire on Thursday paralyzed Haiti’s capital and at least four police officers were slain as a gang leader announced that he would try to capture the country’s police chief and government ministers.
The move came during the absence of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who is in Kenya trying to finalize details for the deployment of a foreign armed force to Haiti to help combat gangs.
Gunmen shot at Haiti’s main international airport and other targets, including police stations.
Photo: AP
At least four police officers, including two women, were killed in an attack on a station near the community of Canaan, a police union said.
The violence forced the airport, businesses, government agencies and schools to close as parents and young children fled through the streets. At least one airline, Sunrise Airways, suspended all flights.
Jimmy Cherizier, known as “Barbecue” and leader of the gang federation G9 Family and Allies, was seen in a recorded video announcing that the aim was to tie up the police chief and government ministers, and prevent Henry from returning to Haiti.
“With our guns and with the Haitian people, we will free the country,” Cherizier said.
A spokesman for the prime minister’s office could not be immediately reached for comment.
The head of Haiti’s National Police, Frantz Elbe, and police spokesman Garry Desrosiers did not return messages for comment.
Armored vehicles patrolled empty streets in downtown Port-au-Prince, while others were stationed near gang-controlled slums.
Residents in some neighborhoods, including Canape Vert and Turgeau, set up roadblocks to prevent gangs from entering as men who were not wearing uniforms stood by with machine guns.
Pierre Alex Boucher, a math teacher who lives in downtown Port-au-Prince, said he heard heavy gunfire before dawn.
Several hours later, as the gunfire continued, he stood on his roof and said he saw police in an armored vehicle fighting gang members before abruptly leaving.
The shooting then worsened, and when he saw what he said were teenagers with machine guns, he fled his home, feeling that his life was in danger.
“The area is completely invaded by gangs,” Boucher said of his neighborhood. “A lot of people couldn’t make it out, and some locked themselves inside their homes.”
He said he spoke with friends who saw people who had been shot to death.
“The country has to revolt against the gangs,” he said. “No one is safe.”
It was not clear whether Cherizier had the backing of other major gangs, which are estimated to control up to 80 percent of Haiti’s capital.
Diego Da Rin, with the International Crisis Group, said that Cherizier in his speech referred to a coalition called Viv Ansanm, which means “living together” in Haitian Creole.
It remains to be seen whether Cherizier truly has the support of other gang leaders, Da Rin said.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS