{"id":8210,"date":"2023-08-07T18:19:42","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T22:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=8210"},"modified":"2023-08-07T18:19:42","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T22:19:42","slug":"thousands-in-haiti-march-to-demand-safety-from-violent-gangs-as-killings-and-kidnappings-soar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=8210","title":{"rendered":"Thousands in Haiti March to Demand Safety from Violent Gangs as Killings and Kidnappings Soar"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Several thousand people \u2014 their faces covered to conceal their identities \u2014 marched through Haiti\u2019s capital on Monday demanding protection from violent gangs who are pillaging neighborhoods in the capital Port-au-Prince and beyond.<\/p>\n

Haitians\u2019 daily lives have been disrupted by incessant gang violence that has worsened poverty across the country as it awaits a decision from the U.N. Security Council over a potential deployment of an international armed force.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want security!\u201d the crowd chanted as it marched for two hours from the troubled community of Carrefour-Feuilles to Champ de Mars in the downtown area and then to the prime minister\u2019s official residence, where police broke up the demonstration with tear gas.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t work. I can\u2019t go out. I\u2019m like a prisoner in my own home,\u201d said Wilene Joseph, a 36-year-old street vendor and mother of two who joined the march out of frustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worry about my kids being shot because bullets are flying from all directions all the time,\u201d Joseph said of her children, ages 5 and 7. \u201cThe situation is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the assassination of President Jovenel Mo\u00efse in 2021<\/a><\/span>, experts say gangs have seized control of up to 80% of Port-au-Prince, killing, raping and sowing terror in communities already suffering endemic poverty.<\/p>\n

From January to March, more than 1,600 people have been reported killed, injured or kidnapped, a nearly 30% increase compared with the last three months of 2022, according to the newest U.N. report.<\/p>\n

On Monday, UNICEF announced an \u201calarming spike\u201d in kidnappings, with nearly 300 confirmed cases so far this year, almost equaling the number reported for all of last year, and almost three times the total for 2021.<\/p>\n

The agency noted that women and children are increasingly being kidnapped and used for financial or tactical gain. Among those kidnapped in late July was Alix Dorsainvil, a U.S. nurse from New Hampshire, and her young daughter. Dorsainvil works for El Roi Haiti, a Christian organization that offers medical care, education and other services. She and her daughter remain in the hands of their captors, who are demanding $1 million in ransom.<\/p>\n

Parents of young children are particularly fearful that gangs will snatch them when they go to and from school. Nacheline Nore, 40, said her two boys, ages 10 and 8, have to call her every day as soon as they step inside their school, and she rides back home with them every afternoon: \u201cYou don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to be the next target,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mario Jenty, a 36-year-old cell phone vendor who joined Monday\u2019s march, said the increase in kidnappings is pushing Haitians into even deeper poverty. \u201cThey\u2019re going to have to sell that home to pay for ransom, and there\u2019s a chance they might not be released,\u201d he said of the victims.<\/p>\n

Jenty, who lives in Carrefour-Feuilles, said he would not allow gangs to take over his neighborhood. \u201cI\u2019m going to fight this,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d rather die than leave my community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenty joined the thousands of Haitians who yelled \u201cBwa kale!\u201d on Monday as they marched, a reference to a violent uprising that began earlier this year, with civilians targeting suspected gang members<\/a><\/span>. More than 200 people have been slain since then, and demonstrators vowed to keep the movement alive as gangs overwhelm Haiti\u2019s understaffed and under resourced police department.<\/p>\n

Last October, Haiti\u2019s prime minister and other top-ranking officials requested the urgent deployment of an international armed force<\/a><\/span> to help quell gang violence.<\/p>\n

In late July, Kenya offered to lead<\/a><\/span> a multinational police force, but the U.N. Security Council has yet to vote on a resolution to authorize a non-U.N. multinational mission. The U.S. said last week that it would put forward such a resolution.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

– Evens Sanon, AP News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several thousand people \u2014 their faces covered to conceal their identities \u2014 marched through Haiti\u2019s capital on Monday demanding protection from violent gangs who are pillaging neighborhoods in the capital Port-au-Prince and beyond. Haitians\u2019 daily lives have been disrupted by incessant gang violence that has worsened poverty across the country as it awaits a decision…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":8212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/06bf0dc\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6720x4480+0+0\/resize\/1440x960!\/format\/webp\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F4c%2F7b%2F104de280e1ea4549377513542b08%2F5b9e7945f6334d7597e83404ee462f37","fifu_image_alt":"Thousands in Haiti March to Demand Safety from Violent Gangs as Killings and Kidnappings Soar","footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security-public-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8211,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210\/revisions\/8211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}