PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — On Tuesday morning, a new wave of violence erupted in the capital of Haiti as gangs assaulted what was previously a tranquil area, producing numerous civilian casualties whose exact number remains unknown.
Recent troubling events unfolded in Delmas 30, beginning just before dawn. The peace was shattered with gunfire ringing out, prompting residents to flee in terror. People, in a state of panic, hurriedly evacuated, with some clutching babies in their arms or carrying elderly family members on their backs.
“The nation is in distress,” remarked Moricette Cedric Christian, a resident of the area at just 27 years old.
He pointed fingers at the Viv Ansanm gang coalition as the culprits behind this violence, attributing them with orchestrating other recent attacks. “They have no intention of letting us survive,” Christian expressed despondently.
Reports from local sources indicated that two Haitian soldiers had fallen victim to this latest onslaught. However, communication with police and military representatives has yielded no immediate response as they have yet to return messages about the incident.
One individual, who preferred to remain unnamed, retrieved the body of a family member lost to this attack, transporting it with a wheelbarrow. “There are so many victims,” he noted, expressing how it feels nearly impossible to escape during a gang attack. “Barricades block you no matter which direction you run,” he added.
The scale of gang-related violence over the past month has rendered more than 6,000 individuals homeless within the broader Port-au-Prince area, according to a statement from the United Nations issued on the same day.
The U.N. report detailed tragic scenes where entire families were wiped out in their own homes, while others, including children and babies, were shot as they attempted to flee past attacks.
In the scope of last year, Haiti witnessed over 5,600 fatalities attributed to violence, with ongoing gang conflicts uprooting over a million people in recent times, as noted by the United Nations.
