International connectivity to Haiti has been restored. It was disrupted on Sunday because of violent clashes in the capital that damaged communications infrastructure. As per Maarten Boute, chairperson of Digicel, one of the main telecoms providers in Haiti, the company’s field teams have fully restored the connection on Sunday afternoon.
This comes as several thousand inmates escaped from Haiti’s main prison in the capital, Port-au-Prince, after an overnight violent attack. As per reports, the attack on Saturday (March 2) led to the death of at least a dozen people. Hundreds of inmates may have escaped from another facility known as Croix des Bouquets after a similar attack. However, the numbers are not clear yet.
Ongoing violence in Haiti
Pierre Esperance of the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights, an NGO, reports that following the overnight attack, only about 100 of the National Penitentiary’s roughly 3,800 inmates remained inside.
In conversation with AFP, he mentioned seeing numerous prisoners’ bodies and wounded individuals in the aftermath of the attack.
An AFP journalist who visited the prison observed around a dozen bodies outside the facility, some displaying wounds from gunfire or other projectiles. Inside, the prison was nearly deserted, with only a few remaining inmates.
The Haitian government, in a statement, reported that there was another assault on another facility known as Croix des Bouquets. There, the police attempted to repel the gang and the attempt resulted in several injuries among both the prison staff and inmates.
As per Esperance, it remains unclear how many inmates escaped from the second prison, which housed 1,450 inmates.
The assault, as per AFP, occurred amid a recent surge in violence in Port-au-Prince, where since Thursday heavily armed gangs controlling much of the city have been unleashing chaos. These gangs are reportedly seeking the removal of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has been at the helm of the crisis-ridden Caribbean nation since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021.
Watch | Haiti violence claims lives of at least 4 police officers
Who has escaped?
Local media reports suggest that prominent gang leaders and individuals implicated in Moise’s assassination were among those detained in the main prison, situated just a few hundred meters from the National Palace.
According to the Haitian daily Le Nouvelliste, the prison had been under surveillance by the assailants via drones since Thursday before the attack occurred on Saturday evening.
In a video, gang leader Jimmy Cherisier, known as Barbecue, stated that armed groups in Haiti were collaborating to pressure Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign.
As the situation in Haiti escalates, Prime Minister Henry’s whereabouts remain uncertain, with reports indicating he was in Kenya on Friday, seeking support for an international police assistance mission led by Nairobi.
Haiti, already grappling with longstanding turmoil exacerbated by the 2021 presidential assassination, continues to face political instability. No elections have been held since 2016 and with the presidency vacant, protesters have demanded Henry’s resignation per a political agreement requiring polls and his transfer of power to newly elected officials by February 7, 2022.
(With inputs from agencies)
