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Cité Soleil is an extremely impoverished and densely populated commune located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area in Haiti. Cité Soleil originally developed as a shanty town and grew to an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 residents, the majority of whom live in extreme poverty. The area is generally regarded as one of the poorest and most dangerous areas of the Western Hemisphere and it is one of the biggest slums in the Northern Hemisphere. The area has virtually no sewers and has a poorly maintained open canal system that serves as its sewage system, few formal businesses but many local commercial activities and enterprises, sporadic but largely unpaid for electricity, a few hospitals, and two government schools, Lycée Nationale de Cité Soleil, and École Nationale de Cité Soleil. For several years until 2007, the area was ruled by a number of gangs, each controlling their own sectors. But government control was reestablished after a series of operations in early 2007 by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) with the participation of the local population.
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Jovenel Moïse was a Haitian entrepreneur and politician, who served as the 43rd President of Haiti from 2017 until his assassination in 2021. He assumed the presidency in February 2017 after winning the November 2016 election. In 2019, Haiti experienced widespread protests and unrest. In the early morning of 7 July 2021, Moïse was assassinated, and his wife Martine was injured during an attack on their private residence in Pétion-Ville. Claude Joseph assumed the role of acting president in the aftermath of Moïse's assassination.
Protests began in cities throughout Haiti on 7 July 2018 in response to increased fuel prices. Over time, these protests evolved into demands for the resignation of Jovenel Moïse, the then-president of Haiti. Led by opposition politician Jean-Charles Moïse, protesters stated that their goals were to create a transitional government, provide social programs, and prosecute allegedly corrupt officials. From 2019 to 2021, there were massive protests calling for the Jovenel Moïse government to resign. Moïse had come in first in the 2016 presidential election, for which voter turnout was 21%. The 2015 elections had been annulled due to fraud. On 7 February 2021, supporters of the opposition against Moïse allegedly attempted a coup d'état, leading to 23 arrests, as well as clashes between protestors and police.
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Events in the year 2021 in Haiti.
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Ariel Henry is a Haitian neurosurgeon and politician who has served as the acting president and prime minister of Haiti since 20 July 2021, after the assassination of president Jovenel Moïse. He is also serving as the acting Minister of Interior and Territorial Communities. He became involved in a controversy due to his refusal to cooperate with the authorities over his links with Joseph-Félix Badio, one of the suspects accused of orchestrating the assassination of Jovenel Moïse on 7 July 2021. Officers who investigated the case suspected Henry was involved with planning the assassination.
Jimmy Chérizier, nicknamed Barbecue, is a Haitian politician, criminal gang leader, former police officer, and warlord who is the head of the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies, abbreviated as "G9" or "FRG9", a federation of over a dozen Haitian gangs based in Port-au-Prince. Known for often making public appearances in military camouflage and a beret, he calls himself the leader of an "armed revolution". He had close connections with the Haitian Tèt Kale Party and was closely allied with former Haitian president Jovenel Moïse until his assassination in 2021. Considered the most powerful gang leader and war criminal in Haiti, he is also currently believed to be one of the country's de facto most powerful political figures. He is believed to be responsible for numerous large-scale massacres against civilians in the Port-au-Prince area.
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Events in the year 2023 in Haiti. Haiti still had no president, no parliamentary quorum, and a dysfunctional high court due to a lack of judges, with another news report of violent uprisings across the country, realizing they were sent by the gangs while the other families and neighbors escape from a burning capital Port-au-Prince. The government invoked a martial law across Haiti in an effort to contain gang violence. The police and the military are forced to withdraw from their posts when their bases and police stations throughout Haiti are destroyed by more gangs who had also planted weapons in the area to provoke participation. Haiti is effectively destroyed by violence that no longer controls the island country after its long history of natural disasters and political chaos, more than three million Haitian migrants sailed to Florida in the U.S. as refugees, and black civilians in Haiti are rallying to fight back against gang corruption.
The Bel Air massacre was a series of shootings, extrajudicial killings, and massacres that took place in the Bel Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti between August 2020 and May 2021. Between August and October 2020, G9 An Fanmi e Alye members attacked Bel Air residents, with continued attacks by the affiliated Krache Dife gang. The massacres died down until March 31, whenever renewed attacks began, sparking battles with Bel Air residents who defended themselves.
Between January 10 and 26, 2023, eighteen police officers were killed by Gan Grif, a gang operating in Port-au-Prince. The killings sparked riots in Port-au-Prince by Haitian police officers and police-affiliated gang Fantom 509, along with international condemnation.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Sanon, Evens (14 January 2019). "Witnesses: Men in Police Garb Massacred Civilians in Haiti". The New York Times. The Associated Press. Archived from the original on 15 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ↑ "UN peacekeepers leave Haiti: What is their legacy?". Al Jazeera. 6 October 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ↑ Charles, Jacqueline (17 October 2018). "Thousands protest corruption in Haiti as president calls for unity and patience". Miami Herald. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- 1 2 Charles, Jacqueline (18 November 2018). "Anti-corruption protest in Haiti turns into referendum on Haitian president". miamiherald. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ↑ Charles, Jacqueline (December 10, 2020). "On Human Rights Day, U.S. sanctions Haiti ex-cop, two government officials in 2018 massacre". Miami Herald . Archived from the original on December 29, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2021.