Haiti’s National Penitentiary in the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, was overrun by armed gang members over the weekend as protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry have raged for nearly a month. Nearly all of the 4,000 inmates are believed to have escaped, and the Government of Haiti declared a state of emergency last night, and announced a curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. March 4 to March 6.
Prime Minister Henry is currently visiting Kenya, where he signed a security deal with Kenya on Friday as part of UN international support to address gang violence in Haiti.
The U.S. Embassy in Haiti issued a security alert yesterday, writing:
U.S. citizens in Haiti should depart Haiti as soon as possible by commercial or other privately available transportation options, in light of the current security situation and infrastructure challenges. U.S. citizens wishing to depart Port-au-Prince should monitor local news and information on security conditions from commercial transportation providers and should arrange to leave Haiti when security conditions permit doing so.
