Violence has increased significantly in the country since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Hundreds the prisoners have escaped from the prison in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, on Saturday evening. The escape is reported by, among others, the news agency AFP, the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC and a US magazine The Washington Post.
According to a local journalist interviewed by the BBC, most of the 4,000 prisoners in the prison escaped in a mass escape on Saturday.
A US news channel reported a similar figure CBS based on information from a Haitian human rights lawyer working in prison. According to him, less than 100 of the nearly 4,000 prisoners in the prison were still in prison after the mass escape.
The escape was aided by armed gangs that attacked the prison.
Some of the prisoners belonged to gangs and were accused of complicity by the Haitian president By Jovenel Moïse assassination in 2021.
Acts of violence have worsened in recent years in Haiti.
The latest wave of violence began earlier this week. According to the BBC, criminal gangs control most of the capital and seek to oust the country's prime minister Ariel Henry.
UN representative According to the report, last year more than 8,400 people were victims of gang violence in Haiti – either killed, wounded or kidnapped. Violence has increased significantly in the two years since the assassination of President Moïse.
The country has not held presidential elections for years, and they were supposed to be held at the beginning of the year, the BBC reports. Thus, the country's leader would have had to change. The country is currently led by Prime Minister Henry. However, no elections have been held.
The French embassy in Haiti urged over the weekend to avoid traveling to or near the capital.
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