Daily life for Haitians has been disrupted by unrelenting gang violence, worsening poverty across the country as it awaits a United Nations Security Council decision on the possible deployment of an international armed force.
“We want security!” the crowd chanted during their more than two-hour march from the troubled community of Carrefour-Feuilles to the Champ de Mars in the city center and then to the prime minister’s official residence, where the Police broke up the protest with tear gas.
“I can’t work, I can’t go out. I feel like a prisoner in my own home,” said Wilene Joseph, a 36-year-old street vendor and mother of two who joined the march out of frustration.
“I am worried that my children will be shot because the bullets are flying incessantly in all directions,” Joseph said of his children, ages 5 and 7. “The situation is unacceptable.”
According to experts, since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, gangs have taken control of up to 80% of Port-au-Prince, killing, raping and terrorizing communities that previously suffered from endemic poverty.
From January to March, more than 1,600 people have been killed, injured or kidnapped, an increase of almost 30% compared to the last three months of 2022, according to the most recent UN report.
On Monday, UNICEF reported an “alarming rise” in kidnappings, with around 300 confirmed cases so far this year, nearly matching the number reported for all of last year and nearly three times the total for 2021.
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Associated Press writer Dánica Coto contributed to this report from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
