Haiti: Port-au-Prince Soon to Be Entirely in the Hands of Gangs

According to Hebdo24, on the night of March 12-13, 2025, Radio Télévision Caraïbes, a leading news station in Haiti, was set on fire by armed bandits. This new element of trafficking is a striking example of the climate of violence that has become a daily occurrence in the Haitian capital, leaving the population feeling powerless and despairing.

And according to Le Nouvelliste, witnesses reported fires in several buildings housing schools and businesses on March 14 in downtown Port-au-Prince, in neighborhoods that had been relatively spared until now from the ruthless violence inflicted by gangs based in the capital.

According to Haiti Press Network, on March 7, the Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) organization warned of a growing humanitarian crisis that will soon spiral out of control. MSF revealed that 5,601 people were killed last year due to armed clashes, a thousand more than in 2023.

MSF denounced the lack of funding for an adequate humanitarian response, as thousands of families continue to flee the violence. Refugees are crowded into makeshift camps and are deprived of access to essential services, including clean water and sanitation.

The same media outlet added that since February 24, Port-au-Prince has been the scene of a resurgence of clashes, leading to an explosion in the number of injuries. MSF called for the international community to raise awareness and urgent mobilization to prevent the crisis from turning into a disaster.

According to a press release from Agence France Presse, the International Organization for Migration, which is part of the UN, states that more than 40,000 people fled their neighborhoods to escape gangs between February 14 and March 4, 2025. According to Haiti Press Network, the violence and chaos have led to the destruction of several camps for internally displaced people.

For example, on February 17, 2025, members of the criminal organization Viv Ansanm attacked the Acra camp, located in Delmas 30. The attackers set fire to the shelters and killed dozens of people. The survivors were forced to flee to safer areas. Similar scenes occurred in the Carrefour Feuille area and near Nazon.

Pierre Espérance, quoted by RTS, asserted that all of Port-au-Prince "risks falling into the hands of bandits," who already control most of it, explains the executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network. He goes on to explain that "the police are more in defensive mode than offensive. This benefits the criminals."

The security situation is deteriorating, despite the presence of the multinational security force, he noted. This force, led by Kenya and supported by the UN, began deploying last summer and now has just over 1,000 police officers from six countries, according to AFP.

But "the multinational mission is limited. It can't even deploy half of its personnel on the ground because their means of transportation are limited," continues Pierre Espérance.

In a country already weakened by chronic political instability and endemic poverty, the population now hopes for a more robust international intervention to put an end to this spiral of violence.