More police protecting earthquake aid

LES CAYES, HAITI >> Haiti’s National Police announced Monday that it had deployed additional units south of the capital to protect aid shipments being taken to the country’s earthquake-damaged southwestern peninsula.

The announcement came one day after a powerful gang leader in that area said in a social media video that his allied gangs would assist in the aid effort.

Gang activity, including the hijacking of aid trucks, has forced most of the early aid to be ferried via planes and helicopters, slowing relief efforts. Police spokeswoman Marie-Michelle Verrier said the police commander-in-chief had decided “to strengthen security in the Great South,” as the region is known. “Several support units were deployed there on the roads and at the city level,” Verrier said. “The presence of the police will promote the deployment of aid convoys, but also the protection of disaster victims and better distribution of relief kits by state authorities and representatives of the international community.”