Haiti’s government has declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew after an explosion of gang-led violence over the weekend saw thousands of prisoners escape after assaults on the country’s two biggest prisons.
The 72-hour state of emergency went into immediate effect as the government said it would set out to find the killers, kidnappers and other violent criminals it said it had escaped in the attacks.
The curfew will be in force from 6pm (23:00 GMT) until 5am (10:00 GMT).
“The police were ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders,” said a statement from Finance Minister Patrick Boisvert, who is acting as prime minister while Ariel Henry is overseas trying to salvage support for a United Nations-backed security force to stabilise the country in its conflict with increasingly powerful crime groups.
Gangs led by Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer known as Barbecue, are trying to force Henry from power.
Pierre Esperance of the National Network for Defense of Human Rights said only about 100 of the National Penitentiary’s estimated 3,800 inmates remained inside after the assault on Saturday night.
“We counted many prisoners’ bodies,” he added.
A reporter from the AFP news agency who visited the prison on Sunday said they saw about a dozen bodies outside it. The gate was open and there was “hardly anyone” left inside, they added.
The Reuters news agency reported that there were no signs of police officers at the prison and its main door was open.
“I’m the only one left in my cell,” one unidentified inmate told Reuters. “We were asleep when we heard the sound of bullets. The cell barriers are broken.”