(NewsWorthy.news) – An estimated 4,000 convicts have escaped Haiti’s two largest prisons after a clash between armed gangs and national police.
The country’s national police union reported on the evening of March 3 that armed gangs had fired shots aimed at breaking apart the police force. Bodies with gunshot wounds were shown at the prison entrance in video footage of the incident. A 72-hour state of emergency and nighttime curfew was ordered by Haitian authorities after the prison was overrun. Finance Minister and acting Prime Minister Patrick Boivert stated that police had been ordered to use all legal methods at their disposal to enforce the curfew and arrest any offenders.
At least 12 people were reported dead in the incident. According to Pierre Esperance of the National Network for Defense of Human Rights, roughly 100 of the 3,800 inmates remained inside the National Penitentiary after the assault. He claimed they had come across many bodies of prisoners. The AFP news agency claimed to have counted 12 bodies inside and said hardly anyone remained in the prison. Armed gangs had already taken control of an estimated 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince by the time of the security breach at the two prisons.
The U.S. has advised its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible as violence spirals out of control. The 18 Colombian nationals accused of assassinating former Haitian President Jovenel Moise in 2021 were among the few left behind in the largest prison. One of them, Francisco Uribe, begged for help in a message that went viral on social media, claiming that inmates were being massacred indiscriminately in their cells.
With Moise’s successor Ariel Henry currently abroad seeking help from the UN in delivering a multinational security force, former elite police officer Jimmy Chérizier has claimed responsibility for the increasing violence. Chérizier, also known as Barbecue, leads a gang federation and said the attacks aimed to capture Haiti’s government ministers and police chief. He also seeks to prevent Henry’s return to the country.
Henry has been in the process of signing agreements with Kenya to deploy its police to the country. President Joe Biden has vowed to monitor the escalating situation. With a large number of Haitian migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally, the escape of thousands of convicts raises further concerns over the worsening Border Crisis under the Biden administration.
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