Haiti’s paramilitary gangs are expanding unchecked, armed with weapons of war and undeterred by the international security force funded by millions in U.S. aid.
Since Scripps News' reporting from Haiti’s capital a year ago, where we documented child soldiers and survivors of sexual violence, urban warlords have seized even more ground: an estimated 90% of Port-au-Prince.
The scale of lost territory is staggering: the international airport, the seaport, major roads, and more than 50 government buildings are now abandoned.
The National Palace is a no-go zone. The Supreme Court is occupied by gangs. The French Embassy is closed. The U.S. Embassy sits on the edge of being surrounded.
Cap-Haïtien: The City of Last Resort
In Cap-Haïtien’s port, where cargo ships should offload humanitarian aid, workers instead hand-load food onto small fishing boats — the only safe route around gang-held roads.
“We can’t reach everyone,” says Nelson Ulysse of the World Food Program. “But we do our best.”
Cap-Haïtien may soon stand as Haiti’s last bastion against anarchy. At the historic city hall, Mayor Yvrose Pierre told Scripps News that nearly 400 new arrivals show up each day seeking help.
“We were not prepared to receive such a large number of displaced people,” Pierre said.
When asked if police would turn people away if the city couldn’t handle more, Pierre was firm: “No, you cannot push them away. They are Haitians seeking refuge. Whatever the circumstances, they have nowhere else to go.”
But gangs lie just 120 miles to the south — and they’ve sealed off every road to safety.
Fleeing Massacre and Horror
Thousands recently fled a massacre in Mirebalais, about 35 miles northeast of Port-au-Prince. Paramilitaries attacked the town, burning homes, killing civilians — including two nuns — and destroying the only modern hospital in the region.
Miraclide Dejoie escaped with 17 family members, ages 7 to 54.
“We slept there for five days,” she said. “It was horrible, no food, no water. The children were starving and thirsty, it was not easy.”
When asked if staying would have meant death, she was certain: “Yes, many people died. They killed everyone they came across, burned houses, killed people with machetes. If they had found us, they would have killed us too.”
Finding Harmony Amid the Collapse
Yet even amid the horror, there are islands of grace.
In the mountains, a nun named Didi Ananda has sheltered 33 orphans evacuated from Port-au-Prince. She took little — just the children and their instruments. In her care, music is more than therapy. “It’s healing,” she says.
Seventeen-year-old Lolita, who plays violin and trumpet, agrees. “When I play, I feel at ease. I’m happy.”
