Marines vs. gangs
The Marines have sent an antiterrorism unit to protect the US Embassy in Haiti amid an eruption of gang violence following the prime minister’s announcement that he plans to step down.
The US Southern Command, operating in the Greater Miami area, said Wednesday a Marine Fleet-Anti-Terrorism Security Team was dispatched Tuesday to the embassy in Port-au-Prince to “maintain strong security capabilities.”
The team was deployed at the request of the State Department and will also provide relief for Marines already stationed in Haiti and allow additional “non-emergency personnel to depart,” the command said.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel
Henry, 74, announced Tuesday that he planned to resign once a transitional presidential council is created, just hours after Caribbean leaders and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Jamaica to discuss the island’s situation.
The country, which shares borders with the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, has long been overrun with gang violence that has worsened since Henry’s announcement.
Embassy still open
“The US Embassy remains open, and limited operations continue, focused on assistance to US citizens and supporting Haitian-led efforts to secure a peaceful transition of power,” the command said.
The Defense Department “doubled” the command’s funding for the Multinational Security Support mission.
Dozens of FAST Marines in Yorktown, Va., were deployed, a defense official told The Washington Post.
Specially trained
The FAST team is made up of Marines who are specially trained to protect embassies and assist with evacuations in emergency situations.
US troops also assisted with a voluntary evacuation of nonessential embassy personnel Sunday after planners and logistical personnel were dispatched, a defense official told The Washington Post.
The US military will work with Kenyan police units, whom they will vet before allowing them to be deployed, to help stabilize Haiti, the command said.
Armed gangs control 80% of the capital city, according to the UN, and continuously wreck havoc.
Henry has been running the country since January 2023 after then-President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated. He has drawn criticism for failing to control gang violence and for not holding new elections.
While the political unrest continues, Henry remains in Puerto Rico because he is unable to return due to gangs that have taken control of the airport.
The Biden administration, meanwhile, is weighing a plan to use an existing migrant center on Guantanamo Bay to process Haitian migrants in the case of a mass exodus from the nation, a US official told CNN.