US to evacuate 20 embassy staff from Haiti following car attack and intensifying gang violence, say sources

Violence is intensifying in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, this week, which saw a United Nations helicopter hit by gunfire and two gangs apparently target US embassy vehicles.

The evacuation of “non-emergency” diplomatic workers will be rolled out in the “coming days,” the second source said.

Also on Thursday, a humanitarian helicopter used by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in the country was hit by heavy gunfire as it was airborne over Port-au-Prince, causing the agency to cancel Friday’s scheduled flights.

“Humanitarian air transport is essential to delivering a response across Haiti,” the WFP statement also said. Many roads in the Caribbean nation are too dangerous to use for overland transport due to gang attacks and roadblocks.

This isn’t the first time a helicopter used by the WFP is hit by gunfire. Last July, an apparent stray bullet hit a helicopter while parked at the Toussaint Louverture airport in Port-au-Prince.

Gang violence in Haiti has spiraled in recent years, with attacks becoming more brazen and violent. Gangs in Haiti control much of the capital, and the ongoing violence has left nearly 700,000 Haitians homeless in recent years. The UN reports that 3,661 people have been killed since January this year.

Earlier this month, three infants were among the scores of people brutally killed in a gang attack in central Haiti. Members of the “Gran Grif” gang used automatic rifles to kill at least 70 people in an attack that displaced 6,000 people, said a UN agency at the time.