Haiti is facing a state of emergency and a nighttime curfew following a series of attacks by armed gangs on two of its largest prisons, which resulted in the massive escape of inmates. The government said several inmates and prison staff were wounded in the clashes during the escape.
The attacks took place at the National Penitentiary, Haiti’s biggest prison, in the capital Port-au-Prince, and at another prison in nearby Croix des Bouquets. The National Penitentiary, which was built to house 700 prisoners, had nearly 4,000 inmates before the assault, according to human rights groups. The number of escapees is still unknown, but some sources said it could be in the thousands.
This prison break was part of a wave of violence that has gripped Haiti since last week, when gangs launched coordinated attacks in Port-au-Prince, targeting police stations, businesses, and civilians.
ABC News reported that the gangs are led by Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer known as Barbecue, who now heads a coalition of gangs. According to the news outlet, Barbecue had claimed responsibility for the attacks saying that he will “continue fighting the state as long as necessary.”
So to “restore order and take appropriate actions to regain control of the situation”, a state of emergency was declared by the Haitian government on Sunday night and will last for 72 hours. The curfew will be in effect from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Hopefully, this will help assuage the amount of violence that has been raging since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, which remains unsolved till this day.
