PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Approximately 150 military police officers from Central America have landed in Haiti to bolster the embattled government’s campaign against violent gangs that have disrupted everyday life for millions in the Caribbean nation. The arrival of some 75 security officers, primarily from Guatemala, was met with enthusiasm on Saturday at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince by the Kenyan commander of the U.N.-backed mission, which has been striving for months to restore stability.
“The gangs have a simple choice: surrender, disarm, and face justice, or confront us on the battlefield,” stated the officer, Godfrey Otunge, during a welcoming ceremony. “With the inclusion of troops from Guatemala and El Salvador, the gangs will find no sanctuary. We will eradicate them from their strongholds.”
A similar-sized group, comprising a small number of forces from El Salvador, traveled on a U.S. Air Force plane and was welcomed on Friday by senior Haitian officials and U.S. Ambassador Dennis Hankins.
Coordinated assaults by gangs on prisons, police stations, and the main international airport have escalated in Haiti since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. It is estimated that gangs hold sway over approximately 85% of the capital.
In what might be their most audacious attack to date, gunmen opened fire on a crowd gathered on Christmas Eve for the highly anticipated reopening of Haiti’s largest public hospital, which had been shuttered after being ransacked by gangs earlier in the year. Two journalists reporting on the event and a police officer lost their lives.
Before this recent deployment, the international mission aiming to quell the violence was overseen by approximately 400 security officers from Kenya. Countries such as Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, and Chad have also committed personnel, though the timing of their deployment remains uncertain.
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