Politics blamed for Haiti gangs
Spokesman for Socialist Alternative Party says ‘violence we are dealing with now has been built by part of the government’
Human rights groups in Haiti have told the ѿý that heavily armed gangs control more than half of the capital, Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. Campaigners say hundreds have been killed in gang-related violence in recent months, with thousands more forced to flee.
Violence has escalated since the assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse, in July 2021. Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry has asked for international help while the United Nations says the country is "on the verge of an abyss".
Dr Jean Buteau is a spokesperson for the left-wing Socialist Alternative Party and part of the Montana Accord, which is a group trying to find Haitian solutions to Haitian difficulties. He told Newsday: “Although there are a lot of problems, the biggest one is political because all the others: the violence, the social issues, the economic situation…the government has been, I would say, kidnapped…with the support of the international community.”
(Picture: A woman cries as people are displaced by gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on November 19th 2022. Credit: Ralph Tedy Erol / Reuters.)
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