Residents in Haiti's capital stand with police in a battle to repel gang attack
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Haiti: UN Evacuates Non-Essential Personnel From Port-au-Prince
Above: A man walks down an empty road in the Delmas commune in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Nov. 20, 2024, amid surging violence in the Haitian capital. Image copyright: Clarens Siffroy/Contributor/AFP via Getty Images
The Facts
Non-essential UN personnel have been evacuated from Port-au-Prince this week as gang violence has further escalated in the capital of Haiti over the past few days.
They were transported by helicopter — 14 people at a time — to the northern city of Cap-Haïtien, where some personnel assigned to the UN Integrated Office in Haiti took humanitarian flights to Panama on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Haiti is at a crossroads. Time is running out for the international community to avoid a complete collapse of security and state authority in Haiti by either making good on its commitments to help the multinational security force operating in the country or transforming it into a UN peacekeeping mission. Otherwise, the country will head to a civil war.
Establishment-critical narrative
None of the US-sponsored neocolonial interventions in Haiti have been particularly successful, including the Multinational Security and Support mission currently on the ground. Neither this occupation nor a potential UN peacekeeping mission will address the plight of the people — only Haitians can achieve that.