On Wednesday night, dozens of gang members stormed the most important port terminal in Port-au-Prince, looting containers, damaging the port’s security apparatus and forcing the terminal to suspend its operations indefinitely, according to Philippe Coles, the president of Caribbean Port Services, which operates the terminal.
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The port’s closure could have disastrous consequences for a capital that is now 80 percent controlled by gangs who, over the past week, have terrorized residents with a wave of killings, kidnappings and attacks on police stations. Thousands of inmates escaped the two biggest prisons over the weekend. The stench of dead bodies on the streets has prompted some families to leave their homes, human rights activists say. Gang members have encircled the international airport, forcing the suspension of flight operations, and have set fire to police stations. Gang roadblocks nationwide have made it nearly impossible to reach the capital by land. The country’s border with the Dominican Republic is closed. Even the country’s embattled prime minister has been unable to return to his country; earlier this week, he flew to Puerto Rico instead.
“Everything has stopped. Medical supplies, food cannot come to Port-au-Prince. Right now nothing can enter by sea, by air, or by road,” said one manager in the shipping sector, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. “It’s a disaster. Hunger will be the next step.”
On any given day, about 5,000 containers are stored or transported through the city’s main port, APN, representing about 80 to 90 percent of the traffic of containers to the capital, Coles said. While other ports outside Port-au-Prince remain functional, deliveries to the capital are made almost impossible by the gang roadblocks. In a country that imports most of what it consumes, the port’s containers carry crucial food products — rice, pasta, milk, fresh vegetables — as well as medical supplies.
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Jean-Marc Biquet, the head of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti, said the country faces a major risk of shortages of medication and blood in the coming weeks.
“Very soon, if there isn’t an aerial, port, or road opening, all hospital institutions, including Doctors Without Borders, will be unable to continue providing care,” Biquet said.
The armed attack at the port came days after the gangs sabotaged the terminal’s power plant, cutting off its electricity and potentially causing crucial fresh food products to spoil, Coles said. Then, on Tuesday, gangs members shot and killed a port security guard while attempting to reach the power plant once again.
Haiti is all but a failed state now, and unfortunately there’s not much the outside world can do about it. At most there’s some vague hope that a peacekeeping force from Kenya would come, but not...
Haiti is all but a failed state now, and unfortunately there’s not much the outside world can do about it. At most there’s some vague hope that a peacekeeping force from Kenya would come, but not only has that been stymied by internal disputes in Kenya, but even if it ever happened, it’s unknown what they could even accomplish given that Haiti for all intents and purposes no longer has a government.
It seems that there isn’t much hope in the near term future - Haiti will be a nation of death and despair.
From the article:
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Haiti is all but a failed state now, and unfortunately there’s not much the outside world can do about it. At most there’s some vague hope that a peacekeeping force from Kenya would come, but not only has that been stymied by internal disputes in Kenya, but even if it ever happened, it’s unknown what they could even accomplish given that Haiti for all intents and purposes no longer has a government.
It seems that there isn’t much hope in the near term future - Haiti will be a nation of death and despair.
I’m sure the US could take over the port if there were the will to do so.
Further reading on why the obvious has yet to happen: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/07/haiti-foreign-intervention-history-peacekeeper/
Mirror, for those hit by the paywall:
https://archive.is/n11jR