Sie murder, kidnap, blackmail. Brutal gangs have had a stranglehold on Haiti for months. The situation in the Caribbean country has deteriorated in recent weeks. Hundreds of people have been killed and injured in gang wars in the suburbs of the capital Port-au-Prince this year. While the bloody fighting had so far been limited mainly to the outskirts, in the past few days shots have increasingly been reported in the city center of the capital, where gangs are apparently also fighting for supremacy. The criminals set fire to a church. Fighting also broke out around a detention center a few blocks from the government palace. Homes and businesses were hit by bullets. The state university announced that it had to suspend classes because its facilities were also hit by bullets.
A government official said police are attempting to take control of the area, but it could take days due to poor equipment and lack of funds. And even that is uncertain. The country with its eleven million inhabitants has around 12,800 police officers. They lack equipment and training. Various regions of the country and several suburbs of the capital have long been controlled by the gangs, who finance themselves with extortion and kidnappings and other illegal activities and fight each other.
