Tensions rise in Haiti as leadership remains in balance
By Story Agencies, March 16, 2024Residents braced for another tense night in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince on Friday, as attacks continued across parts of the city in the aftermath of the resignation of Prime Minister Henry and in the absence of a clear plan to replace him.
“Ariel Henry resigned but we are still in political distress,” said resident Claude Atilus. “We must take our destiny into our own hands. I want the political players to rise to the task and commit themselves to organizing the country.”
A man walked through the city’s Champ de Mars square carrying a white coffin over his head, while further out in the city’s sprawling Delmas neighborhood, flaming tires and roadblocks lined the streets.
“The situation is not good for us,” said vendor Jean-Phillipe Jean-Louis, adding he was exhausted, prices were exorbitant and working on the streets was dangerous.
“When we merchants go out into the streets looking for money to feed our children and wives, we find nothing,” he said.
The United Nations’ children’s fund has warned of record hunger and life-threatening malnutrition concentrated in the capital’s poorest, most dangerous and busiest neighborhoods, with one in four children nationwide suffering chronic malnutrition, or stunting.
Satellite images on Thursday showed shipping containers blocking access to heavy cranes at the country’s main cargo port, which shut operations after a break-in, and set up around the country’s National Palace, the site of heavy shooting last week.
Local media reported police were facing off late on Friday with gangs in the Delmas area, traditionally a stronghold of the G9 alliance led by Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier.