A high-ranking police source said armed gangs attacked Haiti’s National Prison on Saturday, causing an unknown number of inmates to escape, Miami Herald reported.
The prison escape came after days of heavy gunfire from gangs that rose in Port-au-Prince as Prime Minister Ariel Henry visited Kenya to sign a security agreement with the aim of deploying an armed international security mission to help Haiti’s national police fight increasing gang violence.
On Saturday, a video went online showing images of the prison from a drone believed to have been flown by Baz 5 Segon gang, Izo. A voice can be heard observing the prison, reporting the absence of police in the yard and telling gang members that they can move forward.
A spokesman for the Haitian National Police had no comment and a senior police source did not provide further details.
Tensions have led US carriers American Airlines and Spirit Airlines to cancel their flights out of South Florida; Haiti-based Sunrise Airways also cancelled flights after several of its planes parked at the national and international airports were hit by bullets.
The US embassy issued a security alert on Friday, warning American citizens that many locations in the capital were under heavy fire from violent gangs and that civilians should take precautions.
Unsuccessful attempts to take over the prison and the National Palace were reported also on Friday, while heavy gunfire rang out across the capital and armed gangs continued to attack police officers and government installations, including police substations.
Earlier in the week, former police officer turned gang member Jimmy Cherizier claimed responsibility for the latest wave of violence, saying in a video posted online that his aim was to “topple” Henry and his government.
The country’s most overcrowded prison, in the centre of Port-au-Prince, holds several high-profile inmates, including 18 Colombians and other suspects in the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Designed for 3,900 inmates, the National Prison held 11,778 inmates as of early January.
