By: Staff Writer
March 5, 2024
Haiti is in an uproar as hundreds of hardened criminals have sprung out of prison after a mass jail break last week, the chaos has prompted gang leaders to ask for the removal of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
The jail break comes suspiciously a day after the CARICOM leaders made a declaration to resolve the Haitian crisis by bringing together all stakeholders.
The Haitian government announced a state of emergency in response to severe unrest in the capital which disrupted communication networks and resulted in two jailbreaks, all amid efforts by a prominent gang leader to remove prime minister Ariel Henry from power.
According to Haitian lawyer Arnel Remy, head of the Collective of Lawyers for the Defense of Human Rights in Haiti, (CADDHO), a total of 3,597 prisoners escaped from the National Penitentiary.
Gang leaders are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whose whereabouts are unknown since he travelled to Kenya. Gangs control around 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince now and have the police and security forces running in fear.
On Friday, Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, also known as Barbecue, said he would continue in his effort to try to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
“We ask the Haitian National Police and the military to take responsibility and arrest Ariel Henry. Once again, the population is not our enemy; the armed groups are not your enemy. You arrest Ariel Henry for the country’s liberation,” Cherizier said, adding, “With these weapons, we will liberate the country, and these weapons will change the country.”
Public frustration, which had been building against Henry over his inability to curb the unrest, boiled over after he failed to step down last month, citing the escalating violence.
Under a previous agreement, he had committed to hold elections and transfer power by February 7.
Caribbean leaders said Wednesday that Henry had agreed to hold general elections no later than August 31, 2025.
A government statement said two prisons – one in Port-au-Prince and the other in nearby Croix des Bouquets – were stormed over the weekend.
It said the acts of “disobedience” were a threat to national security and said it was instituting an immediate night-time curfew in response, which started at 20:00 local time (01:00 GMT on Monday).
At least five people have been killed and thousands of inmates have fled Haiti’s main prison after armed gangs stormed the facility overnight.
The jailbreak marks a new low in Haiti’s downward spiral of violence and comes as gangs assert greater control on the capital while the embattled prime minister Ariel Henry is abroad trying to win support for a United Nations-backed security force to stabilise the country.