Armed gangs take over Haiti's central prison and release prisoners: chaos increases

This Saturday night, armed gangs took over the National Penitentiary of Port-au-Prince, the largest prison in Haiti, and a indeterminate number of prisoners They have fled, after there were intense exchanges of exchanges around the prison for hours. shots between the police and the assailants.

Relatives of prisoners in Haiti told TIME who have already communicated to report the situation. Likewise, they have already tried to find the consul in that country to request help.

(Also: Martine Moïse, widow of the assassinated former Haitian president, accused of accessory in crime)

“The bandits have stormed the National Penitentiary of Port-au-Prince and have allowed the escape of a certain number of detainees“, reported the French embassy in Haiti.

The takeover of the prison by heavily armed gang members occurred after hours of attacks, as the gangs had announced on social media since the previous day.

In the civil prison there are hundreds of prisoners living in inhuman conditions, including Colombian citizens accused of participating in the assassination of the Haitian presidentJovenel Moise, in July 2021, as well as gang leaders awaiting trial.

After the country's main prison, the National Palace could be the next target of armed groups, who are determined to overthrow the government of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

So far there have been no official communications about what is happening tonight, marked by gang attacks on several public institutions.

Various versions suggest that the objective of the violent groups would be to gain strength before the arrival in Haiti of the multinational security support mission that Kenya will lead.

This Friday Kenya and Haiti signed in Nairobi a bilateral agreement requested by the African country's courts to allow the deployment of a contingent of 1.000 police of that nationality, within the multinational security support mission that Kenyans will lead and to which the The UN gave its approval last October.

Haiti is experiencing an escalation of violence since the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Phillip Davis, assured on Thursday that his Haitian counterpart, Ariel Henry, had committed to holding elections before the August 31, 2025.

EFE

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