Gang Violence Displaces Hundreds in Haiti as Hospitals Suspend Operations

A new wave of gang violence in Haiti has displaced hundreds of people, with families scattered along the road leading to Port-au-Prince's main international airport after clashes erupted over the weekend in northern neighborhoods of the capital. Monique Verdieux, 56, fled to the highway after watching armed men burn houses in her neighborhood.

Her family scattered in different directions, and she said she is not sure where they are. "I am now sleeping in the street," Verdieux said, noting it was unsafe to return. Gangs have overtaken more than 90 percent of Port-au-Prince since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 at his home.

Police say the gangs have expanded their activities, including looting, kidnapping, sexual assaults and rape, into the countryside. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination.

Hospitals in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Cité Soleil evacuated patients as fighting intensified. Doctors Without Borders suspended its activities there after hundreds of residents sought refuge in its hospital, where one of its security guards was shot by a stray bullet inside the compound.

The group treated more than 40 gunshot victims within 12 hours and provided temporary shelter to 800 people. It also cared for patients transferred from another facility, including pregnant women who gave birth overnight. "Currently, not a single hospital is open in the area where the fighting is taking place," the organization said in a statement.

Another hospital in the area, Hopital Fontaine, evacuated newborns from its intensive care unit. Doctors Without Borders said the gunfire had not stopped since Sunday morning and that it could not protect its staff or patients as local medical needs grew exponentially.

“We managed to evacuate him and his condition is now stable. In a statement released on Sunday, the companies said that the government's response to the crisis has been largely insufficient. The companies, among Haiti's main fiscal contributors, noted that the poor state of the roads leading to the airport makes it difficult for Haitian security forces to patrol the area. "You cannot secure an airport if you allow the roads around it to degrade," the statement read. A report published earlier this year by the International Organization for Migration found that gang violence has displaced more than 1.4 million people in Haiti, with approximately 200,000 of them now living in crowded and underfunded sites in the capital.”