As gangs attack a critical port, 'Haiti will go hungry soon'

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — First the gangs blocked the roads to 
Haiti’s capital. Then they attacked the airport. Now they have 
breached the city’s main port, cutting off the capital from one 
of its last remaining lifelines for food and supplies as the 
country teeters toward collapse.

On Wednesday night, dozens of gang members stormed the most 
important port terminal in Port-au-Prince, looting containers, 
damaging the port’s security apparatus and forcing the terminal 
to suspend its operations indefinitely, according to Philippe 
Coles, the president of Caribbean Port Services, which operates 
the terminal.

“It’s total paralysis right now,” Coles said in an interview with 
The Washington Post. “The gangs have the control. They have the 
upper hand.”

The port’s closure could have disastrous consequences for a 
capital that is now 80 percent controlled by gangs who, over the 
past week, have terrorized residents with a wave of killings, 
kidnappings and attacks on police stations. Thousands of inmates 
escaped the two biggest prisons over the weekend. The stench of 
dead bodies on the streets has prompted some families to leave 
their homes, human rights activists say. Gang members have 
encircled the international airport, forcing the suspension of 
flight operations, and have set fire to police stations. Gang 
roadblocks nationwide have made it nearly impossible to reach the 
capital by land. The country’s border with the Dominican Republic 
is closed. Even the country’s embattled prime minister has been 
unable to return to his country; earlier this week, he flew to 
Puerto Rico instead.

“Everything has stopped. Medical supplies, food cannot come to 
Port-au-Prince. Right now nothing can enter by sea, by air, or by 
road,” said one manager in the shipping sector, who asked to 
remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to 
reporters. “It’s a disaster. Hunger will be the next step.”

If the public had guns, the gangsters would already be dead.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/07/haiti-gangs-port/