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Cartel groups threaten the government in Haiti. Photo/Reuters
PORT-AU-PRINCE – Haitian crime group leader Jimmy Cherizier, also known as Barbecue, warned that he will continue to try to overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry. He =asked families to ban children from going to school to “avoid collateral damage” as violence escalated in parts of the capital.
Gunfire and traffic disruption were seen in several areas of the Haitian capital, where more people fled their homes near the site of the fighting, while burnt-out buses lay in the streets and burning barricades filled the air with thick, colored smoke. gray.
“The battle will last as long as necessary. We will continue to fight Ariel Henry. To avoid bad effects, keep children at home,” the cartel leader said at a press conference.
Cherizier is a former police officer who led a gang alliance and disrupted the country when he blocked its largest oil terminal in 2022. He faces sanctions from the United Nations and the United States Treasury Department.
On Friday evening, there were reports that gunmen attempted to take over the capital's main container port, as gangs threatened to attack more police stations in the city. Reuters could not immediately verify these reports.
Meanwhile, a video went viral on social media showing two policemen killed, which SYNAPOHA police union leader Lionel Lazare told Reuters depicted the murder of some of the four officers killed on Thursday.
Members of another police union, SPNH, gathered outside the force's headquarters earlier in the day to call for the recovery of the body.
In a statement, Prime Minister Henry's office said it was “outraged by the acts of violence and terror committed by armed bandits,” and offered condolences to the families of the victims, and said the government would continue to work to resolve the conflict.
Violence escalated during Henry's visit to Kenya this week. The two countries signed a security deal that Nairobi hopes will satisfy domestic court objections to its plan to send 1,000 police officers to lead a UN-sanctioned mission aimed at tackling gang violence in Haiti.