Gangs target peaceful communities in new attacks on Haiti’s capital

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 21, (AP): Armed gangs launched new attacks in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince on Wednesday, with heavy gunfire echoing across once-peaceful communities near the Haitian capital.
Associated Press journalists reported seeing at least five bodies in and around the suburbs, and gangs blocked the entrances to some areas.
People in the communities under fire called radio stations pleading for help from Haiti’s national police force, which remains understaffed and outmatched by the gangs. Among the communities targeted in the pre-dawn hours were Pétion-Ville, Meyotte, Diègue and Métivier.
“When I woke up to go to work, I found I could not leave because the neighborhood was in the hand of the bandits,” said Samuel Orelus. “They were about 30 men with heavy weapons. If the neighborhood had mobilized, we could have destroyed them, but they were heavily armed, and there was nothing we could do.”
By Wednesday afternoon, another victim had been reported: a police officer killed in broad daylight in a Port-au-Prince neighborhood known as Delmas 72, according to the SYNAPOHA police union.
As the attacks continued, the US State Department announced Wednesday that it had completed its first evacuation of American citizens from Port-au-Prince. More than 15 Americans were airlifted to neighboring Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.
More than 30 US citizens will be able to leave Port-au-Prince daily aboard the US government-organized helicopter flights, the agency said.
“We will continue to monitor demand from US citizens for assistance in departing Haiti on a real-time basis,” the department said.
On Sunday, the agency evacuated more than 30 US citizens from the coastal city of Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti to Miami International Airport.
“We hope that conditions will allow a return of commercial means for people to travel from Haiti soon. We and the international community and the Haitian authorities are working for that to become a reality,” the State Department said.
Also on Wednesday, a plane chartered by the Florida Department of Emergency Management evacuated 14 Florida residents, including children, out of Haiti, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the state agency, at an airport in Sanford, Florida where the passengers were expected to land.
More than 300 Floridians are in Haiti, and the Florida-sponsored operation was working on getting them out on future flights despite bureaucratic obstacles from the US government and safety threats in Haiti, Guthrie said at a news conference, where he was accompanied by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

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