Deadly Chaos In Haiti: 12 Killed As Gangs Storm Prisons In Port-Au-Prince, Freeing Nearly 4,000 Inmates
Haiti declared a state of emergency and imposed a nighttime curfew following a chaotic and deadly surge of violence in which armed gangs raided the country’s two largest prisons, leading to the escape of thousands of inmates.
At least 12 people have been killed since the mutiny erupted last Thursday as armed gangs carried out coordinated attacks in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, storming government buildings, jails, police stations, the airport, and the national soccer stadium in a bid to capture Haiti’s police chief and key government officials.
The attacks culminated with the explosive prison break on Saturday night.
The attack was aimed at preventing Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning to the country from Kenya, where he had flown late last week after attending a summit with other Caribbean leaders to address the persistent unrest in Haiti, which was undermining trade and economic progress throughout the region. Henry and Kenyan leaders reached an agreement for the African nation to send 1,000 police officers to Haiti to help fight gangs.
Gang violence has been responsible for thousands of deaths in Haiti since 2020, with the latest outbreak of hostilities causing further damage to Henry’s tumultuous helm.
Even though he was out of the country, Henry continued efforts to gather support for a United Nations security force to assist in stabilizing the country as he faced growing pressure to resign due to his repeated delays in organizing parliamentary and presidential elections, which have not been held in almost ten years.
Violence has gripped the country since Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July 2021, which put Henry in charge.
Despite a political deal for Henry to step down in February, elections were not held, leaving Haiti without a president or a stable government. The country has not had elected officials since senate terms expired in January 2023, leading to increased tensions with the country’s gang leaders, who are believed to control up to 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.
Gunfire crackled in the nation’s capital throughout the weekend as government forces struggled to reestablish order after thousands of dangerous criminals were set free.
“The police were ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders,” said finance minister Patrick Boivert, who is serving as acting prime minister while Henry is away.
The latest emergency declaration was set to last 72 hours as prison authorities worked to apprehend the nearly 4,000 inmates who escaped, while police launched an all-out manhunt for Jimmy Chérizier — a former elite police officer-turned outlaw who claimed responsibility for orchestrating the attacks as well as several previous massacres in Port-au-Prince.
Chérizier, whose street name is Barbecue, called for Henry’s resignation before ordering his ragtag brigade to attack the National Penitentiary on Saturday night, leaving the overcrowded facility nearly empty as droves of convicts fled on foot.
“All of us, the armed groups in the provincial towns and the armed groups in the capital, are united,” Chérizier said in a statement, according to BBC News.
Fewer than 100 inmates remained in their cells and did not join the escape; among them were 18 former Colombian soldiers accused of involvement in Moïse’s assassination, officials said.
During the siege, the Colombian inmates shared a video to social media in which they begged to be rescued and claimed that the attackers were “massacring people indiscriminately inside the cells,” although these accounts have not been confirmed.
Four police officers were killed in the siege, while three individuals were found shot to death at the entrance to the prison, but authorities did not immediately identify the victims.
A journalist with the AFP news agency who visited the prison after the siege reported seeing nearly a dozen bodies, some with apparent bullet wounds.
A second prison in Port-au-Prince prison with about 1,400 inmates was also gutted.
In another neighborhood, residents walked past roadblocks made of burning tires, where the bodies of two men, their hands bound behind their backs, lay face down, covered in blood, according to reports.
Internet service was down for at least a day across the region as fiber optic cables were intentionally cut or damaged during the siege, while the connection was restored by Sunday afternoon.
The violence took place amid a wave of recent attacks on government buildings, including high-level targets like the nation’s Central Bank, as government forces have found themselves outmanned and outgunned by gangs that had grown more organized in recent years.