The Haitian government declared a state of emergency and a curfew on Sunday to regain control of the capital Port-au-Prince, after the escape of several thousand inmates from a penitentiary center attacked by armed gangs, during which at least ten people died.
“The government of the republic, referring to the decree of March 3, 2024 declaring a state of emergency throughout the West department for a renewable period of 72 hours”, department of which the capital is a part , “decrees a curfew throughout this territory” between 6:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. local Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as Sunday from 8:00 p.m. local to 5:00 a.m., indicates a government press release.
Haiti’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Patrick Michel Boisvert, signed the document as interim prime minister. Prime Minister Ariel Henry was in Kenya last week, where Port-au-Prince and Nairobi signed an agreement to send Kenyan police officers to the island.
The curfew was announced “due to the deterioration of security”, particularly in Port-au-Prince, “characterized by increasingly violent criminal acts perpetrated by armed gangs”, as well as taking into account ” the escape of dangerous prisoners”, actions “endangering national security” according to the government.
“The police have been ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders,” the press release added. A poor Caribbean country, Haiti is facing a serious political, security and humanitarian crisis since the assassination in 2021 of President Jovenel Moïse. Security forces are overwhelmed by the violence of gangs who have taken control of entire swaths of the country, including the capital Port-au-Prince.
Prisoners in the wild
At least ten people died during the escape of several thousand inmates from the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, attacked by armed gangs seeking to free the prisoners, we learned on Sunday from an NGO and an AFP journalist.
“We counted many bodies of detainees,” Pierre Espérance, executive director of the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH), told AFP on Sunday.
He explained that only around a hundred inmates were still present in the prison on Sunday, out of around 3,800 before the attack perpetrated by armed gangs on the night of Saturday to Sunday. An AFP journalist who visited the site on Sunday morning saw around ten bodies around the prison. Some bodies had been hit by bullets or projectiles, he said.
He was able to go to the prison, where the door was “open” and where there was “almost no one,” he said.
Since Thursday, armed gangs have been attacking strategic sites, saying they want to overthrow disputed Prime Minister Ariel Henry. In power since 2021, the latter should have left office at the beginning of February.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, police officers “tried to repel the assault by criminal gangs against the National Penitentiary and the Croix des Bouquets prison,” the Haitian government said in a statement.
“This assault on these prison centers left several prisoners and Prison Administration staff injured,” he added.
“Heavily armed criminals”
The government denounced the “rampages of heavily armed criminals wanting at all costs to free people in custody, particularly for acts of kidnapping, murder and other serious offenses”.
The National Police “will do everything possible to track down fleeing prisoners, arrest those responsible for these criminal acts and their accomplices,” assured the government.
Regarding the Croix des Bouquets prison, it is currently unknown how many inmates were able to escape, according to Pierre Espérance. This prison housed around 1,450 inmates before the attack, he said.
Several common law prisoners, known gang leaders and those accused in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse were incarcerated at the National Penitentiary, located a few hundred meters from the national palace.