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The prime minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, formally signed his resignation letter on Wednesday, paving the way for a new government and bringing a measure of political stability to a nation mired in gang violence and an unfolding humanitarian crisis. With the sound of gunshots as a backdrop, the nine members of a transitional council took the oath of office early on Thursday in the National Palace. “We have served the nation in difficult times,” wrote Mr. Henry, whose resignation letter bore a Los Angeles address. “I sympathize with the losses and suffering endured by our compatriots during this period.”Mr. Henry, who has been unable to return to the country because of security concerns, had said in March that he would step down once the transitional council was established.

Persons: Ariel Henry, ”, Henry, Mr Locations: Haiti, “, Los Angeles

☆ Haiti in Crisis Sets Up Ruling Council, Clearing Way for an Acting Leader
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( David C. Adams | Andre Paultre | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A new transitional ruling council was finalized in Haiti on Friday to try to bring political stability to a country wracked by escalating gang violence and a worsening humanitarian crisis. The council’s formation, announced in an official state-run bulletin, comes after gangs who have a brutal grip on much of the capital prevented the prime minister, Ariel Henry, from returning to the country after a trip overseas and ultimately pushed him to announce his resignation. The presidential transition council is tasked with restoring law and order through the appointment of an acting prime minister to head a new government as well as to pave the way for the election of a new president. A coalition of armed gangs has had control of most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, since it launched an offensive in late February, destroying police stations and government offices, looting banks and hospitals and killing and kidnapping hundreds of people.

Persons: Ariel Henry Locations: Haiti, Port

☆ American YouTube Personality Released After Being Kidnapped in Haiti
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( David C. Adams | Andre Paultre | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An American YouTube personality who was kidnapped two weeks ago by a gang leader in Haiti was released over the weekend and was on his way home to the United States on Monday morning, according to his father. The American, Adisson Pierre Maalouf, 26, had traveled to Haiti from the neighboring Dominican Republic to interview Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer and gang leader known as Barbecue, according to Mr. Maalouf’s family, who spoke to The New York Times after his release. Kidnapped with him was Mr. Maalouf’s guide, Jean Sacra Sean Roubens, a Haitian journalist. Mr. Roubens confirmed to The Times that he had also been released.

Persons: Adisson Pierre Maalouf, Jimmy Chérizier, Maalouf’s, Jean Sacra Sean Roubens, Roubens Organizations: New York Times, The Times Locations: American, Haiti, United States, Dominican Republic, Haitian

☆ American YouTube Personality Is Released After Being Kidnapped in Haiti
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( David C. Adams | Andre Paultre | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An American YouTube personality who was kidnapped two weeks ago by a gang leader in Haiti was released over the weekend and was on his way home to the United States on Monday morning, according to his father. The American, Adisson Pierre Maalouf, 26, had traveled from the neighboring Dominican Republic to interview Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer and gang leader known as Barbecue, according to Mr. Maalouf’s family, who spoke to The New York Times after his release. Kidnapped with him was Mr. Maalouf’s guide, a Haitian journalist named Jean Sacra Sean Roubens. Mr. Roubens confirmed to The Times that he had also been released.

He learned from neighbors and others who dared venture into gang territory that Jude-Anne Hospital had been looted and cleared of anything of value. It was the second hospital he has had to close. “They took everything — the operating rooms, the X-rays, everything from the labs and the pharmacies,” Dr. LaRoche said. As politicians around the region scramble to hash out a diplomatic solution to a political crisis that has the prime minister, Ariel Henry, stranded in Puerto Rico and gangs attacking police stations, a humanitarian disaster is quickly escalating. The food supply is threatened, and access to water and health care have been severely curtailed.

Persons: Ronald V, LaRoche, Jude, Anne, “, Ariel Henry Organizations: Anne Hospital Locations: Haiti’s Delmas, Haiti, Puerto Rico

Gangs attacked two prisons in Haiti, including the country’s largest penitentiary, and allowed prisoners to escape on Saturday night, according to Haitian officials, the latest instance of escalating violence and disorder in the country’s capital, which has been ravaged by gang violence for more than two years. While details of the attack remained murky, the government of Haiti released a statement Sunday saying that police officers were unable to prevent gang members from releasing “a large number of prisoners,” adding that several inmates and prison staff were injured. Haiti’s national penitentiary held nearly 4,000 inmates at the time of the attack and the other facility, the Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison, held roughly 1,400, according to local human rights groups. At least two of the country’s police unions went on social media on Saturday requesting that all police officers report to the national prison in Port-au-Prince, the capital, to help control the situation and prevent the inmates from fleeing.

Locations: Haiti, Port

☆ The Wife of Haiti’s Assassinated President Is Accused in His Killing
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( David C. Adams | Andre Paultre | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Haitian judge has indicted 51 people for their roles in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, including his wife, Martine Moïse, who is accused of being an accomplice, despite being seriously wounded in the attack. Instead, it says that she and other accomplices gave statements that were contradicted by other witnesses, suggesting that they were complicit in the killing. The indictment also cites one of the main defendants in the case in custody in Haiti, who claimed that Mrs. Moïse was plotting with others to take over the presidency. The accusations echo those contained in a criminal complaint filed by a Haitian prosecutor and submitted to Mr. Voltaire. The official charge against Mrs. Moïse is conspiracy to murder.

Persons: Jovenel Moïse, Martine Moïse, Judge Walther Voltaire, Moïse, Voltaire Organizations: The New York Times Locations: Haiti, Haitian

A Haitian prosecutor has recommended charges against 70 people for the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Among the former Colombian soldiers and Haitian government officials accused in the case is one unexpected name: former First Lady Martine Moïse, who was seriously injured in the attack. Instead, it says that she and other accomplices gave statements that were contradicted by other witnesses, suggesting that they were complicit in the attack and notes that one of the main suspects in custody in Haiti claimed Mrs. Moïse wanted to take over the presidency. The complaint did not provide any more details about Mrs. Moise’s statements. Her lawyer denied the accusations.

Persons: Jovenel Moïse, Martine Moïse, Moïse Organizations: Colombian, The New York Times Locations: Haiti

Every day, Vélina Élysée Charlier drives past barricaded neighborhoods and frequently sees dead bodies lying on the street, she said, a result of score-settling between gangs and vigilantes in Haiti’s capital. After dusk, she never leaves home for fear of being killed or kidnapped. When her 8-year-old daughter got appendicitis one evening, Ms. Charlier said, the family waited until morning to get her medical care since driving to a hospital was out of the question. “Port-au-Prince looks like something out of hell these days,” said Ms. Charlier, 42, a prominent anticorruption activist in the city and mother of four who lives in a hillside area of the capital. After that desperate appeal, a force led by Kenya finally seems close to materializing in what would be the first time an African country leads such a mission in one of the Americas’ most unstable places.

Persons: Charlier, ” Locations: “, Kenya

☆ Vigilante Justice Rises in Haiti and Crime Plummets
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Frances Robles | Andre Paultre | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The 14 presumed gang members under arrest were arriving at a police station in Haiti’s capital, when a group of people overpowered the police, rounded up the suspects outside and used gasoline to burn them alive. The gruesome executions on April 24 marked the start of a brutal vigilante campaign to reclaim the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, from gangs that have inflicted terror on Haitians for nearly two years. In a nation wracked by extreme poverty and violence, civilians have taken up arms and killed at least 160 people believed to be gang members in the six weeks since a citizens “self-defense” movement known as “bwa kale” kicked off its vigilantism with the brazen police station attack, according to data gathered in a new report by a prominent Haitian human rights group. The result: a sharp drop in kidnappings and killings attributed to gangs in neighborhoods where people told The New York Times they had been afraid to leave their homes.

Persons: ” Organizations: New York Times Locations: Port

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