Author: Jacqueline Charles
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US fears Haiti could fall ‘at any time’ as doubts grow over Biden’s backup Kenya plan
U.S. government officials have grown alarmed that the Haiti National Police could begin to crumble within hours — and that a long-planned multinational mission led by Kenya to provide reinforcements may not be enough to save the country from a complete descent into gang control. Outgunned Haitian police have been battling a united front of…
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Trial date for last defendants in Haiti assassination case likely to be delayed for months
A historic Miami trial spotlighting the assassination of Haiti’s president will likely be held months after its scheduled date in May for the remaining five defendants who have not reached plea deals with federal prosecutors. On Tuesday, prosecutors told a federal judge that they’re willing to delay the trial until October. But defense attorneys said…
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Haiti moves closer to total collapse and its prime minister is unable to return home
Banks and government offices in Haiti are being pillaged and burned. Police substations are falling under the control of gangs. Prisons have broken open. And neighborhoods across the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, are experiencing continuous gunfire. As a powerful coalition of armed gangs continues its assault in a volatile Haiti— and the political party of a…
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White House sounds alarm that Haiti is ‘rapidly deteriorating’ as gangs move on key targets
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is alarmed over what it is describing as a “rapidly deteriorating security situation” in Haiti as the country’s armed gangs broadened their attacks on critical infrastructure Sunday, launching an assault against the police academy after storming two prisons in the capital and the port the night before. The gangs have…
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Biden rejects US troop deployment to Haiti as crisis spirals
The Biden administration will not send U.S. troops to Haiti to help its national police respond to a rapidly evolving security crisis, as a united front of gang leaders has led attacks on the country’s main seaport, airports and prisons, a White House official told McClatchy. Their decision comes after a frantic 72 hours of…
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Haiti has deployed its army; troops joined police to push back gang takeover of airport
A group of armed gangs attempted to take over Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport on Monday, launching an armed attack against the facility just days after a series of coordinated attacks across the capital led to the escape of hundreds of jailed prisoners, including several notorious gang leaders. The attack against the airport came amid…
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Haiti, Kenya and US make progress on deployment of armed force, but there’s no date yet
Government officials from Haiti, the United States and Kenya have wrapped up a planning conference for the deployment of a multinational security mission to help Haitian police deal with dangerous criminal gangs, but just how soon forces will arrive in the volatile Caribbean nation remains unknown. Neither U.S. nor Haitians officials provided a deployment date…
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Feds charge Haitian American pastor in conspiracy to kidnap, kill Haiti President Moïse
MIAMI — Christian Emmanuel Sanon, the Haitian American pastor who hired former Colombian soldiers to protect him in Haiti while he aspired to replace President Jovenel Moïse, is now being charged with conspiring to kidnap and assassinate Haiti’s leader, according to a revised indictment filed Wednesday in Miami federal court. Sanon, 65, was previously charged…
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US and Haiti investigations into Jovenel Moïse assassination offer stark differences
U.S. and Haitian authorities agree that a pastor’s ambition to rule Haiti three years ago led to the shocking assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse. But the two nations’ investigations diverge on whether Haitian-American minister Christian Emmanuel Sanon played a leading or supporting role in the slaying. Sanon, arrested in Haiti after Moïse’s death…
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Haiti prime minister holds on as police kill 5 rogue agents amid protests, gun battle
At least five members of a rogue security brigade seeking the ouster of Haiti’s prime minister died Wednesday in an exchange of gunfire with police, who spent a third day beating back violent protests across the country. Lionel Lazarre, the head of SYNAPOHA, a police union, said Haiti National Police also arrested three agents of…