Haiti airport attack: Country in chaos as gangs try to seize airport

Ariel Henry, who was supposed to step down last month, had been out of the country last week when armed criminal gangs, who control large swathes of the country, announced a co-ordinated assault to oust him.

As the latest crisis in the violence-wracked Caribbean nation spiralled, gunfire shut down some flights at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Haiti’s capital.

He was denied entry into the neighbouring Dominican Republic, according to Dominican news group CDN.

On Tuesday evening a spokesperson for the governor’s office in nearby Puerto Rico confirmed his plane had landed there, at least briefly.

“I don’t know if he’s still in Puerto Rico,” Sheila Anglero told AFP by telephone.

Gangs controlling large swathes of impoverished Haiti have wreaked havoc for months, with co-ordinated attacks on strategic sites growing since last week.

In power since the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise, Mr Henry had been due to step down in February but instead agreed to a power-sharing deal with the opposition until new elections are held.

Earlier Tuesday, a police academy in the capital where more than 800 cadets are training came under attack by an armed gang.

The attack was repelled after the arrival of reinforcements, said Lionel Lazarre of the Haitian police union.

The chaos has left some 250 Cubans stranded in Port-au-Prince after their flights were cancelled, according to the Havana office of Sunrise Airways.

“When we were about to board the plane, they realised that the plane had a bullet hole,” a 34-year-old Cuban passenger told AFP via WhatsApp, on condition of anonymity.

She had booked a ticket to return home from Haiti on February 29, but remains stranded in the country, with the airline saying it was unsure when flights would resume.

On Tuesday the Dominican Republic said it was halting all flights to Haiti.

‘Escalation of violence’

Haitian officials have been pleading for months for international assistance to help their overwhelmed security forces, as gangs use shocking violence to push beyond the city and into rural areas, threatening agricultural production.

Henry had travelled to Kenya to push for the deployment of a UN-backed multinational police mission to help stabilise his country when the attempt to oust him began.

With him away, the gangs raided two Port-au-Prince prisons, in attacks that resulted in a dozen deaths and the escape of thousands of inmates.

The government has declared a state of emergency and a night-time curfew, which has been extended through Wednesday.

The “escalation of violence” has prompted at least 15,000 evacuations in the worst-hit parts of the capital, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Due to limited movement, UN teams on the ground have been unable to report a death toll from the latest violence, Dujarric told reporters in New York.

Meanwhile the UN Security Council has scheduled a closed-door meeting Wednesday to discuss the crisis. Maria Isabel Salvador, the UN representative in Haiti, will brief the Council remotely.

After being brought to a virtual standstill, Port-au-Prince appeared to be returning to some semblance of normalcy Tuesday, although certain streets remained barricaded with debris placed by residents in an attempt to protect themselves.

Some transportation has resumed and shops have reopened, with long queues seen outside of stores, banks and at petrol stations.

In Washington, the State Department renewed a call for calm. “We urge all actors to put the people of Haiti first, stop the violence and make the necessary concessions to allow for inclusive governance, free and fair elections and the restoration of democracy,” spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

He declined to address the whereabouts of Haiti’s prime minister.