The U.S. needs a plan to stop Haiti's free fall
In just the first three months of this year, more than 1,600 people have been killed in gang-related violence. More than 1 million people have been displaced. Women and girls especially are left vulnerable to sexual violence. Gangs control around 85 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Town after town is falling under the control of gangs, which conduct prison raids to free inmates and bolster their ranks.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
'Welcome to hell': Freed migrants tell of horrors in Salvadoran jail
Mervin Yamarte left Venezuela with his younger brother, hoping for a better life. But after a perilous jungle march, US detention, and long months in a Salvadoran jail surviving riots, beatings and fear, he has returned home a wounded and changed man. On entering the sweltering Caribbean port of Maracaibo, the first thing Yamarte did after hugging his mother and six-year-old daughter was to burn the baggy white prison shorts he wore during four months of "hell." "The suffering is over now," said the 29-year-old, enjoying a longed-for moment of catharsis. Yamarte was one of 252 Venezuelans detained in US President Donald Trump's March immigration crackdown, accused without evidence of gang activity, and deported to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. According to four ex-detainees interviewed by AFP, the months were marked by abuse, violence, spoiled food and legal limbo. "You are going to die here!" heavily armed guards taunted them on arrival to the maximum security facility east of the capital San Salvador. "Welcome to hell!" The men had their heads shaved and were issued with prison clothes: a T-shirt, shorts, socks, and white plastic clogs. Yamarte said a small tuft of hair was left at the nape of his neck, which the guards tugged at. The Venezuelans were held separately from the local prison population in "Pavilion 8" -- a building with 32 cells, each measuring about 100 square meters (1,076 square feet). Each cell -- roughly the size of an average two-bedroom apartment -- was designed to hold 80 prisoners. - 'Carried out unconscious' - Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele built the prison to house the country's most dangerous gang members in deliberately brutal conditions, drawing constant criticism from rights groups. Trump's administration paid Bukele $6 million to keep the Venezuelans behind bars. AFP has unsuccessfully requested a tour of the facility and interviews with CECOT authorities. Another prisoner, 37-year-old Maikel Olivera, recounted there were "beatings 24 hours a day" and sadistic guards who warned, "You are going to rot here, you're going to be in jail for 300 years." "I thought I would never return to Venezuela," he said. For four months, the prisoners had no access to the internet, phone calls, visits from loved ones, or even lawyers. At least one said he was sexually abused. The men said they slept mostly on metal cots, with no mattresses to provide comfort. There were several small, poorly-ventilated cells where prisoners would be locked up for 24 hours at a time for transgressions -- real or imagined. "There were fellow detainees who couldn't endure even two hours and were carried out unconscious," Yamarte recounted. The men never saw sunlight and were allowed one shower a day at 4:00 am. If they showered out of turn, they were beaten. Andy Perozo, 30, told AFP of guards firing rubber bullets and tear gas into the cells. For a week after one of two riots that were brutally suppressed, "they shot me every morning. It was hell for me. Every time I went to the doctor, they beat me," he said. Edwuar Hernandez, 23, also told of being beaten at the infirmary. "They would kick you... kicks everywhere," he said. "Look at the marks; I have marks, I'm all marked." The detainees killed time playing games with dice made from bits of tortilla dough. They counted the passing days with notches on a bar of soap. - 'Out of hell' - An estimated eight million Venezuelans have fled the political and economic chaos of their homeland to try to find a job in the United States that would allow them to send money home. Yamarte left in September 2023, making the weeks-long journey on foot through the Darien Gap that separates Colombia from Panama. It is unforgiving terrain that has claimed the lives of countless migrants who must brave predatory criminal gangs and wild animals. Yamarte was arrested in Dallas in March and deported three days later, without a court hearing. All 252 detainees were suddenly, and unexpectedly, freed on July 18 in a prisoner exchange deal between Caracas and Washington. Now, many are contemplating legal action. Many of the men believe they were arrested in the United States simply for sporting tattoos wrongly interpreted as proof of association with the feared Tren de Aragua gang. Yamarte has one that reads: "Strong like Mom." "I am clean. I can prove it to anyone," he said indignantly, hurt at being falsely accused of being a criminal. "We went... to seek a better future for our families; we didn't go there to steal or kill." Yamarte, Perozo, and Hernandez are from the same poor neighborhood of Maracaibo, where their loved ones decorated homes with balloons and banners once news broke of their release. Yamarte's mom, 46-year-old Mercedes, had prepared a special lunch of steak, mashed potatoes, and fried green plantain. At her house on Tuesday, the phone rang shortly after Yamarte's arrival. It was his brother Juan, who works in the United States without papers and moves from place to place to evade Trump's migrant dragnet. Juan told AFP he just wants to stay long enough to earn the $1,700 he needs to pay off the house he had bought for his wife and child in Venezuela. "Every day we thought of you, every day," Juan told his brother. "I always had you in my mind, always, always." "The suffering is over now," replied Mervin. "We've come out of hell." mbj-mav-jt/mlr/arb/sst
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Royal Caribbean cruise boat worker stabs female coworker and then dies jumping overboard
A Royal Caribbean crew member jumped overboard to his death after stabbing his female coworker, according to police. A 35-year-old South African man was working on the Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas cruise ship when he stabbed a 28-year-old South African female crew member 'multiple times' just before 7.30 a.m. Thursday, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said. The man then fled the scene and jumped off the ship, authorities said. He was later pronounced dead by onboard medical staff. The female victim suffered stab wounds to her upper body. She was treated and is now in stable condition, police said. It's not immediately clear what prompted the violence. A motive behind the stabbing has not been identified and crew members have not been publicly named. An investigation into the matter is ongoing. An autopsy has been scheduled, police said. A spokesperson for Royal Caribbean described the incident to NBC News as "a personal dispute.' No additional details were mentioned. "Our crew immediately initiated a search and rescue operation, but unfortunately the crew member passed away," the company in a statement to CBS News. "We extend our condolences to the crew member's family and loved ones. To respect their privacy, we have no additional details to share." Passengers recalled crew members rushing after the intercom blasted 'Oscar, Oscar, Oscar" — the Royal Caribbean's code for man overboard, the outlet reported. The ship then slowed before turning around. The Independent has reached out to the Royal Caribbean for more information. The Icon of the Seas was making its way back from the Bahamas to Miami when the incident transpired, CruiseMapper shows. The cruise ship departed Miami on July 19 and then made stops in St. Marteen, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas, before returning to Florida. The Icon of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, made its maiden voyage in January 2024. The 1,200-feet-long vessel boasts seven pools, the 'world's largest waterpark at sea,' six waterslides and nine whirlpools. It holds up to 5,610 passengers and 2,350 crew members across its 19 floors.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
As Haiti turns to lethal drones to fight gangs, Canada is among those who are uneasy
Haiti's battle against criminal gangs has leaned into the lethal use of drones this year, with senior officials defending the tactic that some outside parties, including Canada's government, have voiced qualms about. The embattled Caribbean nation has been struggling to expel the powerful armed gangs that senior United Nations officials say have taken "near-total control" of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The gangs' reach extends beyond the capital, though, with violence surging in Haiti's central region, where three police officers and two civilians were slain this week. The Haitian National Police (HNP) is one player in the effort to oust these gangs, and the country is also receiving some support on this front from a UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police. But the state has also looked to drones to both conduct surveillance on gangs and to strike them. These strikes, led by a government-created task force and supported by private contractors, have drawn media attention for months — including when a prominent gang leader, Jimmy "Barbecue" Chérizier, said he'd survived a strike involving explosive drones. "The population has had it up to here, and the government cannot just sit and watch," Fritz Alphonse Jean, chair of Haiti's transitional presidential council, told the Financial Times earlier this month, arguing the strikes are needed to defeat the gangs. Yet some observers believe the use of drones to hit back against the gangs falls short of a legal standard for the use of such weapons, even if Haiti faces sustained pressure from those adversaries. "The intentional use of lethal force by law enforcement is legal under international human rights law only when it is strictly unavoidable to protect life [when] facing an imminent threat, and as a last resort when other less lethal alternatives — such as capture or non-lethal incapacitation — have been exhausted," William O'Neill, the UN's designated expert on human rights in Haiti, recently told the Economist. Canada has donated drones for non-lethal use That raises questions for Canada, which has provided drones to Haiti — though not of a type designed for lethal use, according to the federal government. "Canada has donated surveillance drones to the Haitian National Police with the intent to help reduce the danger faced by uniformed officers as they conduct patrols," Global Affairs Canada told CBC News in a statement. "None of the drone models that have been provided by Canada were designed or intended for lethal use or load transport." That said, Canada "is concerned by reports of extrajudicial executions, which are a violation of international human rights law, and continues to call on Haiti to respect all domestic and international laws in its efforts to restore security in the country, including in its use of drones." Global Affairs Canada did not clarify if Ottawa definitively knows of cases in which Canadian-provided drones have been used for lethal purposes in Haiti. But it said Haiti had agreed that the equipment provided would not be used "to commit or facilitate any violation of international humanitarian law or international human rights law." Diego Da Rin, a Haiti analyst with the International Crisis Group, a global think-tank, said the HNP needs these tools for surveillance, particularly because gangs are using them for the same purpose. "Several gangs have been using drones to collect intelligence to conduct operations," he said in a telephone interview, noting these gangs are not known to be using strike drones. The Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains, a local human rights group, said in June that it believed the state's drone strikes had killed at least 300 gang members and wounded another 400. CBC News asked the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) whether it has concerns about the lethal use of drones by Haitian forces against gangs within the country. "Regarding the lethal use of force by law enforcement in operations, it should be conducted in respect of human rights and adhere to the principles of necessity, proportionality, and precaution," spokesperson Mathias Gillmann said in an email. Gillmann said a communication channel had been established with the HNP's General Inspectorate "through which documented cases of human rights violations potentially involving police officers are referred for further investigation and the adoption of appropriate administrative and legal measures." Prolonged instability Haiti has faced years of instability following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. The country has not had a president since. Ariel Henry, who served as acting prime minister and led Haiti's government after Moïse's assassination, stepped down from his role after gang-driven turmoil erupted while he was outside the country. WATCH | Canada's ambassador to Haiti on surging gang violence: A transitional council took power after Henry's departure. The council appointed Alix Didier Fils-Aimé as prime minister last November. The challenges the government faces in quelling the gangs were on display on Wednesday, as a police union demanded officials do more to protect officers on the ground. "The government does not give the police any importance. If they took this seriously, they would have made the means and support available to the police and the military to end the insecurity," the SPNH-17 union said, in the wake of the killing of the three officers in central Haiti. "Too many police officers have fallen." The transitional presidential council said the government was mobilizing all necessary resources to investigate the killings and honour the memory of those slain.
