‘On Tuesday, a plane carrying Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry landed in Puerto Rico’, stated its spokesperson.
‘I don’t have extra details on the matter but federal agents from the CBP [US Customs and Border Protection] are in charge’, said Sheila Anglero Mojica.
Since last week, Port-au-Prince has been seized by gang attacks on law enforcement and state institutions. Police stations have been burned by the armed groups and released thousands of inmates from two prisons.
One gang leader described it as an attempt to overthrow Henry’s government. The violence arose while Henry was in Kenya, where he signed an agreement underpinning a Kenyan-led mission of 1,000 police officers to Haiti to replace security in the Caribbean country.
The last appearance of the prime minister in public was in Kenya on Friday, before arriving today in Puerto Rico, per Mojica.
On Sunday, Haiti’s government declared a state of emergency amid the escalating violence in Port-au-Prince.
‘15,000 people have been forced to flee from their homes in the capital, adding to the over 300,000 who had already been displaced by gang violence’, said the United Nations.
‘The government cited the deterioration of security and increasingly violent criminal acts by armed gangs which also include kidnappings and killings of citizens, violence against women and children and looting’, according to a statement from Finance Minister Patrick Boivert.
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