PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Heavily armed gangs tried to take control of Haiti's main international airport on Monday, exchanging fire with police and soldiers from the country's two largest prisons in the latest attack on key government sites .
Toussaint Louverture International Airport was closed at the time of the attack, with no aircraft in service and no passengers on site.
Associated Press journalists saw an armored truck on the tarmac firing at gangs to prevent them from entering the airport as scores of employees and other workers fled the whizzing bullets.
It was not clear as of Monday evening whether the attack, the largest in Haiti's history on the airport, was successful.
Last week, the airport was briefly hit by bullets as part of ongoing gang attacks, but gangs did not enter or take control of the airport.
The attack came just hours after authorities in Haiti ordered a nighttime curfew after armed gang members overran the two largest prisons over the weekend and released thousands of inmates.
Soldiers guard the entrance of the international airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, March 4, 2024. Authorities ordered a 72-hour state of emergency starting Sunday night after armed gang members overran the two largest prisons and released thousands of inmates on Weekend. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
An inmate helps another prisoner at the National Prison in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, March 3, 2024. Hundreds of inmates fled Haiti's main prison after armed gangs stormed the facility overnight. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Port-au-Prince, where armed gangs increased their attacks on critical infrastructure over the weekend,” said UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.
The 72-hour state of emergency began on Sunday evening. The government said it would try to track down the escaped prisoners, including from a prison where the vast majority are in custody and some are accused of murders, kidnappings and other crimes.
“The police have been ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and arrest all offenders,” said a statement from acting Finance Minister Patrick Boivert.
It is estimated that gangs already control up to 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince. They are increasingly coordinating their actions and choosing once-unthinkable targets like the central bank.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry traveled to Kenya last week to try to salvage support for a United Nations-backed security force designed to help stabilize Haiti in its conflict with increasingly powerful criminal groups.
Dujarric said the secretary-general stressed the need for urgent action, particularly in providing financial support to the mission, “to meet the urgent security needs of the Haitian people and prevent the country from plunging further into chaos.”
According to the United Nations, Haiti's National Police has around 9,000 officers ensuring the security of more than 11 million people. They are regularly overwhelmed and outnumbered.
The deadly weekend marked a new low in Haiti's downward spiral of violence. At least nine people have been killed since Thursday – four of them police officers – as gangs stepped up their coordinated attacks on state facilities in Port-au-Prince, including the international airport and the national soccer stadium.
But the attack on the national prison late Saturday shocked Haitians. According to the Office of Citizen Protection, all but 98 of the 3,798 inmates held at the prison escaped. Meanwhile, 1,033 people escaped from Croix-des-Bouquets prison, including 298 convicts.
The office said late Monday it was seriously concerned about the safety of judges, prosecutors, victims, lawyers and others following the mass exodus.
It added that it regretted and condemned “the policy of nonchalance” shown by government officials in the attacks.
After the raid on the correctional facility, three bodies with gunshot wounds lay at the prison entrance on Sunday.
In another neighborhood, the bloodied bodies of two men lay facedown with their hands tied behind their backs as residents walked past roadblocks set up with burning tires.
Adds names: Former Colombian soldier Carlos Guerrero, accused of involvement in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, speaks to journalists at the National Prison in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, March 3, 2024. Hundreds of inmates are out Haiti's main prison escaped after armed gangs stormed the facility overnight. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A woman walks past bodies of inmates outside the national prison in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, March 3, 2024. Hundreds of inmates fled Haiti's main prison after armed gangs stormed the facility overnight. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Among the few dozen people who have chosen to remain in prison are 18 former Colombian soldiers accused of working as mercenaries in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
“Please, please help us,” one of the men, Francisco Uribe, said in a message that was shared widely on social media. “They massacre people indiscriminately in the cells.”
The Colombian Foreign Ministry has called on Haiti to provide the men with “special protection.”
A second prison in Port-au-Prince with around 1,400 inmates was also overrun.
Shots were reported in several areas of the capital. Internet service was down for many residents on Sunday as Haiti's main cell phone network said a fiber optic cable connection had been cut during the rampage.
After gangs opened fire at Haiti's international airport last week, the U.S. Embassy said all official travel to the country would be suspended. On Sunday evening it called on all US citizens to leave as quickly as possible.
The Biden administration, which has refused to send troops to a multinational force for Haiti while offering money and logistical support, said it is watching the rapidly deteriorating security situation with grave concern.
An inmate stands at the national prison in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, March 3, 2024. Hundreds of inmates have escaped from Haiti's main prison after armed gangs stormed the facility overnight. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
An inmate waves at the National Prison in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, March 3, 2024. Hundreds of inmates have escaped from Haiti's main prison after armed gangs stormed the facility overnight. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
The surge in attacks follows violent protests that grew deadlier in recent days as the prime minister traveled to Kenya to push ahead with that East African country's planned United Nations-backed security mission.
Henry took over as prime minister after Moise's assassination and has postponed plans to hold parliamentary and presidential elections, something that has not happened in almost a decade.
Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue who now heads a gang organization, has claimed responsibility for the increase in attacks. He said the goal was to capture the Haitian police chief and ministers and prevent Henry's return.
The prime minister has shrugged off calls for his resignation and made no comment when asked whether he thought it was safe to come home.
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Associated Press writers Joshua Goodman in Miami and Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.
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