Written by EVENS SANON

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s main airport remained closed on Tuesday, a day after violence erupted as the country swore in its new prime minister in a politically tumultuous transition.

Life in much of the capital was frozen following the wave of violence, which came to a head when gangs shot a Spirit Airlines airplane, hitting a flight attendant and forcing the flights and airport to shut down. Heavily armed police in armored cars outside the airport checked trucks used for public transportation passing by.

Schools were closed and so were banks and government offices. Streets, where just a day before gangs and police were locked in a fierce firefight, were eerily empty, with few driving by other than a motorcycle with a man who had been shot clinging to the back.

The sounds of heavy gunfire still echoed through the streets – a reminder that despite political maneuvering by Haiti’s elites and a strong push by the international community to restore peace, the country’s toxic slate of gangs kept its firm hold on much of the Caribbean nation.

Police officers patrol the area during an exchange of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Photo via AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph.)

The United Nations estimates that gangs control 85% of the capital of Port-au-Prince. A U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police to quell gang violence struggles with a lack of funding and personnel, prompting calls for a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

The violence comes after a transitional council, tasked with restoring democratic order to Haiti, which hasn’t held elections since 2016, decided to fire the country’s interim prime minister, Garry Conille, who in his six months in office was often at odds with the council.

Despite Conille declaring the move illegal, the council rapidly swore in businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé as the new interim prime minister. Fils-Aimé promised to work with international partners to restore peace and hold long awaited elections, a promise also made by his predecessor.

But many Haitians, like 43-year-old Martha Jean-Pierre, have little taste for the political fighting, which experts say only give gangs more freedom to continue expanding their control as Haiti teeters on the brink of famine.

Jean-Pierre was among those to brave the streets of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday to sell the plantains, carrots, cabbage and potatoes she carried in a basket on her head. She had no choice, she said, selling was the only way she could feed her children.

“What good is a new prime minister if there’s no security, if I can’t move freely and sell my goods,” she said, nodding to her basket of vegetables. “This is my bank account, this is what my family depend on.”

Related Stories
‹
Many Still Seeking Food, Shelter a Year After Haiti Quake
Written by EVENS SANON and DÁNICA COTO The cinderblock home with a tin roof that Erline Castel and Dieunord Ernest rented was among the more than 130,000 houses damaged or destroyed by a powerful earthquake that struck southern Haiti last year, killing more than 2,200 people. In the days after the magnitude 7.2 quake hit, […]
UN: Tens of Thousands Await Help 1 Month After Haiti Quake
Tens of thousands of Haitians are still awaiting help more than a month after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the country’s southern region, a U.N. official said Thursday. Bruno Lemarquis, resident and humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, said the country’s precarious political situation and the control that gangs have of key roads leading to the affected area […]
Injured in Haiti’s Quake Continue To Show Up at Hospitals
Written by MARK STEVENSON and EVENS SANON The problems in Haiti may be summed up by the public hospital in L’Asile, deep in a remote stretch of countryside in the nation’s southwest area. Here, a full four days after a powerful earthquake hit this region the hardest, people are still showing up from isolated villages […]
Quake Injured Wait for Help as New Disaster Overwhelms Haiti
Written by MARK STEVENSON and EVENS SANON Under Haiti’s burning heat, Jennie Auguste lies with a lost, thousand-yard stare on a flimsy foam mattress placed on an airport’s tarmac. A resident of the southwestern part of the Caribbean nation, Auguste has wounds in the chest, abdomen and arm after the roof of the store she […]
Rescuers Race to Find Afghan Quake Survivors as Death Toll Passes 1,400
Written by JAMEY KEATEN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban said the death toll from a major earthquake in eastern Afghanistan passed 1,400 on Tuesday, with more than 3,000 people injured, as the United Nations warned of an exponential rise in casualties. The figures provided by Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid were just for the […]
8.8 Magnitude Quake Strikes off Russia’s Far East. Tsunami Waves Reach Japan, Hawaii and California
One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck off Russia’s Far East early Wednesday, sending tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean.
Powerful Earthquake Rocks Myanmar and Thailand, Killing at Least 3 in Bangkok High-Rise Collapse
A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand on Friday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed.
Haiti Has 1 Million Displaced People, Mostly From Gang Violence. It’s Tripled Over the Past Year
The U.N. migration agency says internal displacement in Haiti, largely caused by gang violence, has tripled over the last year and now surpasses 1 million people — a record in the Caribbean nation.
Strong Earthquake Kills at Least 126 People in Western China Near Mount Everest
Written by KEN MORITSUGU BEIJING (AP) — A strong earthquake shook a high-altitude region of western China and areas of Nepal on Tuesday, damaging hundreds of houses, littering streets with rubble and killing at least 126 people in Tibet. Many others were trapped as dozens of aftershocks shook the remote region. Rescue workers climbed mounds of broken bricks, […]
Haiti’s Main Airport and Capital Frozen After a Day of Violence
Written by EVENS SANON PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s main airport remained closed on Tuesday, a day after violence erupted as the country swore in its new prime minister in a politically tumultuous transition. Life in much of the capital was frozen following the wave of violence, which came to a head when gangs shot a Spirit […]
›