Overview:
Regardless of the publicity by Jimmy ‘Barbecue” Chérizier’s Viv Ansanm gang coalition saying threats of utmost violence in Port-au-Prince, residents continued their each day actions Monday, defying worry. Nonetheless, many colleges shut down as a precaution.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — A number of faculties in Haiti’s capital closed Monday, Feb. 3, following threats from the Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier-led gang coalition Viv Ansanm, which vowed to wreak havoc throughout town.
Regardless of heightened tensions , a lot of Port-au-Prince carried on as ordinary Monday, with public transportation working in gang-free areas, avenue distributors promoting items, and industrial banks and shops—significantly alongside Delmas Highway—remaining open.
Gunfire was reported in areas corresponding to Carrefour de l’Aéroport, Nazon, and components of Tabarre close to Toussaint Louverture Worldwide Airport, however no casualties or materials injury have been confirmed.
Haitian Nationwide Police (PNH) Director Common Rameau Normil mentioned the power stays on excessive alert and can proceed to accentuate its presence to strengthen safety.
“We’re reinforcing safety measures to guard lives and property,” Normil mentioned.
A high-level assembly was held at PNH headquarters in Tabarre on Feb. 1 to coordinate a response to potential assaults.
Among the many establishments that suspended operations have been outstanding personal faculties Saint-Louis de Gonzague, Jean-Marie Guilloux, Grand Collège Bilingue de Sarthe, and Nouvelle Supply, which sought to guard college students and employees from potential gang violence.
“As a result of data concerning Monday, Feb. 3, the administration invitations mother and father, college students, and lecturers to train warning. The college’s doorways will stay closed,” Grand Collège Bilingue de Sarthe mentioned in a public assertion.
The closures got here after threats from Chérizier, the infamous chief of the Delmas 6 gang and head of the Viv Ansanm alliance. Chérizier promised retaliation in opposition to political figures André Michel and Claude Joseph, who had petitioned america and the United Nations to designate Viv Ansanm as a world terrorist group.
Michel and Joseph had beforehand considered Viv Ansanm as a political participant in discussions to interchange Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council (CPT), which has been broadly criticized as ineffective. Nonetheless, the 2 lately reversed their stance after dealing with important public backlash.
“This choice will enable us to make use of all means to battle the gangs. Within the battle in opposition to terrorists, there are not any limits or questions of human rights,” Michel wrote on X on Feb. 2. “We are going to meet with all diplomats to mobilize them on this situation. There shall be no dialogue or negotiation with the gangs.”
Kenscoff stays tense amid ongoing violence
Whereas Port-au-Prince remained comparatively calm, Kenscoff continued to endure from lethal assaults carried out by the Carrefour gang. The violence, which started final week, has left about 40 residents useless, forcing the neighborhood into excessive alert.
Interim municipal authorities have prolonged safety measures, together with:
- An 8 p.m. to five a.m. curfew
- Restrictions on motorbike circulation
- A ban on gas gross sales in yellow containers
- A requirement for residents to hold legitimate identification and report suspicious exercise
“The mayor’s workplace urges all residents to stay extra vigilant than ever, because the hazard has not but been eradicated,” authorities mentioned in a press release.
Officers have additionally sealed deserted homes and restricted native motorbike taxi operations to residents solely.
The escalating gang menace highlights Haiti’s ongoing safety disaster. Whereas the federal government has but to announce extra safety measures, police mobilization stays in impact.
“The mayor’s workplace requires the inhabitants’s cooperation in strictly adhering to safety measures, which apply to everybody,” Kenscoff authorities reiterated.
As tensions persist, the resilience of Haitians within the face of uncertainty provides a glimpse of hope that Port-au-Prince and surrounding communities will proceed to face agency in opposition to gang violence.