Topline
The U.S. military evacuated staff members at the embassy in Haiti on Sunday morning, the embassy and the military confirmed, after a massive jailbreak last weekend destabilized the Caribbean nation and allowed armed gangs to take over large portions of the capital city.
Key Facts
The military conducted an airlift operation to evacuate non-essential American employees from the embassy in Port-au-Prince on Sunday morning, U.S. Southern Command said in a statement sent to Forbes.
In a statement posted on X, the embassy said the state department made the decision to evacuate staffers due to “heightened gang violence in the neighborhood near U.S. embassy compounds and near the airport.”
A military aircraft flew American employees of the embassy out of the country—no Haitians were evacuated.
The U.S. military also confirmed that it stands ready to support the U.N.’s proposed multinational security support mission led by Kenya in Haiti, and could provide “planning assistance, information sharing, airlift, communications and medical support” in the future.
The State Department declined to comment on the record.
Key Background
The evacuations come about one week after armed gangs in Haiti staged a mass jailbreak, freeing about 3,700 people from two of the Caribbean nation’s largest prisons. The jailbreak happened while Prime Minister Ariel Henry was traveling to Nairobi, speaking with Kenyan President William Ruto about support for the U.N.’s multinational security force to help stabilize the country. Over the course of the week, gangs effectively took control of an estimated 80% of Port-au-Prince, including the national soccer stadium and Toussaint Louverture International Airport. On Saturday, heavy gunfire was reported at Haiti’s National Palace, the Haitian home of Henry as he serves as the nation’s acting president, Reuters reported. Henry has not returned to Haiti since the jailbreak last week, and was last seen entering Puerto Rico last week, the Associated Press reported.
Chief Critic
Guy Philippe, one of the leaders of a failed 2004 coup against the Haitian government, criticized Henry for creating the crisis by not stepping down as president. “He had an agreement—he would resign and step down on February 7, this year, but he hasn’t done it,” Philippe told Reuters on Friday. Henry, who is also serving as Haiti’s Prime Minister, became acting president after the assassination of President Jovenal Moïse in 2021. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Henry on Thursday, the State Department said in a press release, and urged him to support a “political transition” that would allow the proposed security force to deploy and eventually transition the country to free and fair elections. “It will be good for the country that he stay where he is and let Haitians decide their fate,” Philippe, a former rebel leader and candidate for president said. In 2016, Philippe was arrested and charged in the U.S. for money laundering funds made from drug trafficking. He returned to Haiti in November after serving out his six-year prison term.