Haiti gang violence, rape, impunity growing worse, UN chief warns in new report
- Haiti’s under-resourced police have struggled with heavily armed gangs who have gained territory
- The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere has been hit by a stream of crises in recent years
Gang-plagued Haiti is sinking further into bloodshed and lawlessness, the United Nations chief warned in a report Wednesday, urging the international community to provide security and financial aid to the troubled Caribbean nation.
Brutal gangs are tightening their grip on Haiti, with snipers shooting indiscriminately from rooftops and people burned alive, which prompts vigilante groups to respond with more violence.
Violence has spiked since last week, when the leader of the powerful G9 gang alliance Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier said he would overthrow the government by force and called a broader truce of metropolitan area gangs through a new alliance called “Living Together”.
The announcement sparked internal feuds. Late on Tuesday the leader of a G9 alliance gang was killed by other alliance members near Fontaine Hospital in the capital, according to local media reports.
“Gang-related violence has continued to increase in intensity and brutality, with gangs expanding their control within and beyond Port-au-Prince,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a report published on Wednesday.