OTTAWA – Haitian criminal groups are taunting the authorities and the international community by setting fire to two Canadian-made armored vehicles recently purchased by local police, who are financially supported by Ottawa.
The National Police of Haiti (PNH) declared that two of its armored vehicles had been “ambushed and then set on fire with Molotov cocktails thrown by armed bandits” on the night of May 17 to 18. A policeman was killed in the attack and another was wounded by bullets.
The assailants filmed the entire scene, including the body of the police officer lying bloodied on the ground. They broadcast the images on Telegram to show what they were doing with the hard-won equipment in Canada.
“You send us dinosaurs, but they don’t eat zebras. Look what we do to them”, indicates in one of the videos a bandit who films the two armored vehicles in flames.
Millions in smoke
The videos make it possible to clearly identify a vehicle from the Toronto company INKAS. One of the burned tanks had been delivered no later than May 8, told the Log a local police source. It was part of the cargo of four INKAs delivered by the American air force with the logistical support of the Canadian army. An operation welcomed by the Canadian Ambassador to Haiti, Sébastien Carrière. In total, Haiti has ordered 18 armored vehicles from the Toronto company for a total of $13.5 million.
“Several of these armored vehicles paid dearly by the Haitian government to a Canadian company have already been destroyed by bandits,” rages Joseph Flaubert Duclair, of the Montreal organization Debout pour la Dignité, which helps the Haitian diaspora.
This is not the first time that gangs have destroyed an armored vehicle. Another INKAS vehicle went up in smoke in November, set on fire by bandits.
Ottawa has just released an additional envelope of $ 100 million, promised during the visit of Joe Biden in March, to better equip the Haitian police forces so that they take over the gangs. The sum is in addition to the $2 billion paid in support of Haiti since 2010.
Massacres
Richard Pierrin / AFP
A policeman on patrol in Port-au-Prince on April 25.
This week’s attack took place in the Source-Matelas sector, about 30 kilometers from the capital Port-au-Prince. An area under gang control, where dozens of people were massacred a month ago, according to local media.
In April alone, more than 600 people were killed in a new wave of extreme violence, according to the Human Rights Branch of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti. This is on top of the killing of at least 846 people in the first three months of 2023, in addition to 393 people injured and 395 people abducted.
Overwhelmed, the police need help
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who has been advocating for months for the dispatch of a specialized armed force to help the police restore order, deplored on Monday the “reluctance” of Western countries to take leading such an intervention.
“The police are really overwhelmed by events. We need help, not from an occupation force, but from a technical operational force”, confirmed to the Log a national police commissioner who spoke on condition of anonymity for his safety.
Based in the capital Port-au-Prince, he closed his home, which was too close to gang territory, and now lives with a relative, while his wife and children live abroad for their safety. He explains that the capital is completely surrounded by gangs and that the police can no longer access the surrounding communities.
Richard Pierrin / AFP
Arrested on April 24 in the Turgeau sector, in Port-au-Prince.
But Ottawa, which Washington has asked to lead a special operation in Haiti, refuses, preferring to send checks.
Although he salutes the financial aid provided by Canada as well as the training he himself has benefited from over the years, the Commissioner explains that the Haitian government uses the aid to buy equipment without consult the police. His men are thus sent to the lion’s den with equipment that does not meet their needs.
“The gangs have superior equipment to what the police have,” he laments.
For Joseph Flaubert Duclair, of the Montreal organization Debout pour laigue, it is “madness” to continue to send millions to Haiti under these conditions. Like the UN, his organization is calling for Canada to lead an operational force on the island.