More than 300 diplomats were evacuated, including staff members from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and European Union. The United States declared that it would be using helicopters to transfer its residents.
The nations that border Haiti have tightened border controls, and international nationals have been evacuated by embassies.
Nearly 300 persons, including employees of the European Union, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, were reportedly evacuated from the Dominican Republic.
The US announced on Wednesday that it was evacuating its citizens via helicopter because the airport was blocked.
Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters, “We do expect these helicopter movements to make multiple trips in order to try and get as many American citizens as we can.”
On Wednesday, local media reported that inhabitants of the affluent Petion-Ville neighborhood on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, had locked themselves in their homes due to heavy gunfire and bodies discovered on the street.
Le Nouvelliste alleged that armed individuals had carried out attacks east of the city, resulting in the deaths of at least fifteen persons in the neighborhood, which is home to several high-end hotels and approximately twelve embassies.
The gang leader Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier vowed to go after hotel owners who were harboring old-guard politicians behind their doors last week, and Petion-Ville is adjacent to several of these establishments.
Violence has persisted in Port-au-Prince even after Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced last week that he would resign, as per the demands of the increasingly strong gangs who have taken over the city.
International leaders have mediated the formation of a presidential transition council, although its composition is still unknown.
The US State Department stated at the beginning of last week that it anticipated the council would be established in a few days. However, some factions selected for representation disapproved of the idea or were unable to come together behind a single leader, and those who were excluded criticized the action for giving members of organizations they viewed as corrupt more power.
Haiti is in chaos
In a statement released on Tuesday, activist groups in Haiti criticized the administration for its lack of transparency and claimed—without providing any details—that a coup had been carried out while gang violence in the capital was paralyzing.
In addition to the thousands of people slain and hundreds of thousands more displaced within Haiti due to widespread claims of rape, arson, and kidnappings for ransom, food prices are skyrocketing and hospitals are severely lacking in essential supplies like oxygen and blood.
Alleged Baz Pilat gang boss Ezechiel Alexandre addressed followers on Tuesday, discussing how his organization had taken over Carrefour Feuilles, a densely populated area that had been overrun by the rival Gran Ravine gang last August, leaving thousands of people without a place to live.
“The people understand that they must return to their homes to fix their homes,” said Alexandre, who managed to break out of the newly closed national penitentiary.
“They are sleeping in shelters, and it’s not good.”
General Laura Richardson of the US Army stated on Tuesday that there were no present plans for the deployment of troops, but that they were “prepared” should the US government choose to get more involved in a planned international security mission, which Haiti’s government requested in 2022 but is still pending.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD
