New leaders confront Haiti’s chaos as those living in fear demand quick solutions to gang violence

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — It’s been just one day since Haiti’s transitional presidential council was installed, and the list of demands on the Caribbean nation’s new leaders is growing rapidly. Haitians want security, food, jobs… and they want them now.

Council members charged with bringing political stability to Haiti are under immense pressure to produce quick results, despite a deep-rooted crisis that has been years in the making.

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Making Haiti safer is a priority. More than 2,500 people were killed or injured between January and March alone, and more than 90,000 have fled the capital, Port-au-Prince, so far this year amid relentless gang violence.

“The task is truly monumental,” said Robert Fatton, an expert on Haitian politics at the University of Virginia.

Gangs burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that has been closed since early March, and raided the country’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.

The gangs now control 80% of Port-au-Prince and, although they have long depended on powerful politicians and the country’s economic elite for their survival, they are becoming increasingly self-sufficient.

“The way out of that is very complicated,” Fatton said. “I don’t expect the presidential council to find a solution.”

However, the council could push for disarmament and find ways to alleviate poverty in slums, he added. “Those gangs are just not going to go away just saying, ‘We want them to be good guys.'”

The nine-member council acknowledged the challenges it faces after taking the oath of office early Thursday at the National Palace, located in an area of ​​downtown Port-au-Prince that has been attacked by gangs in recent weeks.

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During the ceremony, gunfire erupted as some officials looked around the room. Hours later, the new interim prime minister, Michel Boisvert, addressed the council.

“The task ahead is daunting,” Boisvert said. “I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the population expects a lot from you… everything becomes a priority along with safety.”

It’s unclear exactly how the council plans to tackle these daunting tasks. Its members have met behind closed doors with senior government officials as they prepare to elect a new prime minister, a cabinet and an interim electoral commission. They will also establish a national security council.

However, no strategy to quell gang violence has been publicly announced. Several council members did not return messages seeking comment Friday.

After the swearing-in ceremony, curious pedestrians slowed down as they passed the prime minister’s office building.

Some were openly upset. “Thieves and gangs! That’s all they are! a man shouted as he rode by on his motorcycle.

There was not much hope in a crowded makeshift shelter set up in Haiti’s former Ministry of Communications, a building the government had abandoned due to gang violence.

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Rose Hippolite, 66, was forced to flee her home in Port-au-Prince with her four children after gangs raided her neighborhood. They have been in the courtyard of the ministry building for two months now, sleeping on the floor or sitting in a corner when it rains, waiting for the ground to dry out.

Every day gunshots are heard throughout the city. “We live in fear,” she said. “Only God knows if the new leaders will help.”

Nancy Philemon, a 42-year-old mother of six, was sitting nearby under a large, tattered umbrella, selling candy and other small items to shelter refugees.

“I have no hope,” he said. “Instead of getting better, things are getting worse. … There is no safe place anywhere.”

The Haitian National Police remains largely overwhelmed by gangs that are better armed and have more resources. More than 15 officers have been killed by gangs so far this year.

Lionel Lazarre, general coordinator of the SYNAPOHA police union, told The Associated Press by phone Friday that the council must prioritize safety “above all else.”

Police need a lot, he said, including gunship helicopters, armed vehicles, drones, high-caliber weapons and infrared thermal imaging for night operations.

“It is important to us that the council meet with us urgently,” Lazarre said. “I think if there is political will, we have hope that things can change.”

There is hope because during the last three weeks, the police have managed to prevent the gangs from taking over the National Palace and several police stations, he said.

Fatton, the Haitian expert, said he heard predictions on the radio about how the council is doomed to fail “if things don’t change with the security situation.”

“They have a very short period of time to get their act together and get results,” he said.

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