Insecurity in Haiti: how to live among fear of gangs?

The security situation in Haiti is so out of control that kidnappings and crimes are no longer logged in Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital. According to experts on security and human rights, the most worrying thing about the situation are the links that allegedly exist between gangs and government authorities, manifested through the impunity enjoyed by gang members.

As a result of these links between government and gangs, attacks in working-class neighborhoods by armed gangs have increased in the last two years. The districts of Saline and Bel-Air in particular are the usual sites of massacres that are constantly denounced by human rights defenders. Meanwhile, citizens are doubly victimized: because they live in territories where they have no rights, and because they are automatically labeled as outlaws. Read more