US evacuates citizens as violence paralyzes Haiti
WASHINGTON — More than 30 US citizens landed in Florida on a chartered government flight from Haiti on Sunday, the US State Department said, after weeks of gang violence that have paralyzed the Caribbean country.
The flight departed from Haiti’s port city of Cap-Haitien, where the airport has been open “periodically”, according to the US embassy.
“The Department of State facilitated the safe departure from CapHaitien of over 30 US citizens on a US government charter flight,” a State Department spokesperson told AFP late Sunday.
Haiti has been convulsed for the last two weeks by a gang uprising aiming to topple unpopular Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
The armed groups have seen their numbers grow after an attack on two prisons freed thousands of inmates.
A recent United Nations report warned of the “near-collapse of basic services” in Haiti.
The chaos has left millions vulnerable as they await the formation of a transitional governing council to take power after Henry announced his resignation last week under pressure.
Several other countries and the European Union have evacuated diplomatic personnel due to the crisis.
The United Nations also said it was evacuating nonessential staff.
Kenya has offered to lead an international security mission to back up Haiti’s overwhelmed police, as a state of emergency in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation is set to end on April 3.
Mad Max moment
The UN children’s agency chief offered a dire assessment on Sunday of the chaotic situation in Haiti, saying it was “almost like a scene out of Mad Max”, which depicted a violent and lawless post-apocalyptic future.
“Haiti is a horrific situation,” UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell told CBS talk show Face the Nation.
“Many, many people there are suffering from serious hunger and malnutrition and we’re not able to get enough aid to them,” with gangs controlling large parts of Port-au-Prince as well as key roads leading elsewhere.
The situation is “the worst that anyone has seen in decades”, she said.
Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that the offices of its honorary consul in Haiti were ransacked.
The ministry said only “paperwork and documentation of the last four or five years had been previously transferred” to the Guatemala Embassy for Haiti, which is located in the neighboring Dominican Republic.