US airlifts embassy staff out of Haiti as violence escalates

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The US has airlifted staff from its embassy out of Haiti as violence engulfs the Caribbean country and gangs attack government buildings in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

“Heightened gang violence in the neighbourhood near US embassy compounds and near the airport led to the state department’s decision to arrange for the departure of additional embassy personnel,” said the US embassy on Sunday.

“Non-essential” staff had left, it said without giving numbers, but the embassy remained open. Several countries, including France and Spain, have reduced their embassy staff or suspended operations over the past two years as insecurity has roiled Haiti.

The country is mired in a fresh cycle of violence after rival gangs joined forces this month to launch a wave of attacks on the government. The interior ministry was set ablaze on Friday night amid intense fighting in downtown Port-au-Prince, while police stations were also attacked.

Gangs are calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who assumed power with US support following the assassination of president Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 but has not held an election; the mandates of all officials in Haiti have since expired.

At the same time the country is enduring dire humanitarian conditions. Many schools and hospitals have been forced to close, while NGOs — often the administrators of services in Haiti — have warned that food, water, and fuel are running low.

Some 15,000 people have been displaced by the recent attacks, the UN has said, while 3,800 inmates escaped two prisons in jailbreaks this month.

Jimmy Cherizier, a feared gang leader also known as “Barbecue”, said in a streetside press conference in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday that “if Ariel Henry doesn’t step down, if the international…