Armed gangs stormed the city’s largest prison in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. Almost the entire prison population of almost four thousand criminals was able to escape, a local journalist reports to the BBC. Human rights lawyer Arnel Remy, whose NGO works in the complex, says on X that fewer than a hundred of the detainees are still behind bars.
The official side has not yet responded to the massive outbreak. Among the residents were gang members convicted of involvement in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Since his death, the poverty-stricken country has been headless and no elections have been held since 2016.
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Now that the Haitian Prime Minister is out of the country, gangs are attempting a coup
According to the BBC, 80 percent of Port-au-Prince is currently under the control of gangs, led by former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, also known as ‘Barbecue’, who want to depose Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The latter has been in Kenya since Thursday to discuss a Kenyan force that must put things in order in Haiti. From the moment Henry left the country, violence in the capital increased. Police officers and offices were targeted. According to the United Nations, gang violence has doubled in one year.