World

US guns pour into Port-au-Prince, fuelling surge in violence

Mar 28, 2024

Washington [US], March 28: Haiti is a state out of action.
More than two weeks after the country's prime minister resigned, following a surge of violence in Port-au-Prince, details of a presidential transitional council have still not been revealed.
One of the challenges this council will have to face is the illegal trafficking of guns, which has powered the gangs which have taken over.
The escalation in violence has sparked an exodus from the capital.
Among those leaving is 14-year-old David Charles whose father Israel is nervous with excitement as he waits for his son's bus to arrive in Cap-Haitien.
A coach with boarded-up windows pulls up to the side of the road. He smiles in anticipation. His 14-year-old son David soon walks down the stairs with his luggage. They embrace tightly.
David has managed to escape Port-au-Prince - a city now torn apart by armed gangs and political chaos. Most of the violence gripping Haiti is centred in the capital: the UN estimates 80% of it is now controlled by gangs.
He had been living there for two years without his parents, in order to finish his education, but Israel did not want him "to become a victim".
This month's torrent of violence spurred him to get his son out to Cap-Haitien, a city in the north of the country which is safer.
"The journey was very long, more than six hours. I was praying the whole way," says David. "The bus driver later told us there were a lot of gunshots in one area, our bus just missed them."
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation