Haiti PM condemns gangs, kidnappings in public address

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has condemned gangs and kidnappings in a prerecorded address in which he also assured that the country isn't running out of fuel despite severe shortages that sparked recent strikes

Haiti Protest (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Prime Minister Ariel Henry condemned gangs and kidnappings in a prerecorded address posted Friday in which he also reassured Haitians that the country was not running out of fuel despite severe shortages that have frustrated millions and sparked recent strikes.

It’s the first time Henry has acknowledged those issues in a public address since the Oct. 16 kidnapping of 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group.. The 16 Americans, one Canadian and their Haitian driver were abducted amid a spike in gang-related kidnappings that police are struggling to control.

“If they do not stop their wrongdoing, the law will apply to them,” Henry said in his message. “The only option for bandits and all their sponsors is imprisonment or death if they do not want to change professions.”

The leader of the 400 Mawozo gang that kidnapped the missionaries, including five children, has said he would kill them if his demands are not met. Haitian officials have said the gang is seeking $1 million per person, but that it wasn’t clear if that included the children, the youngest of whom is 8 months old.

Henry also condemned those who are helping criminals by giving them weapons, ammunition and money, including “all those who deal with them so that they can take power. They are all enemies of the Haitian people, and we are treating them as enemies.”

The prime minister spoke days after a widespread strike led to schools, businesses and public transportation to shut down in the capital of Port-au-Prince and beyond to protest the lack of fuel and the country’s worsening situation. Gangs have been blamed for blocking gas distribution terminals, with at least one gang leader saying he would lift the blockade if Henry stepped down.

Henry said ships are waiting to unload fuel and that the country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, would not run out of gas.

The shortages have affected hospitals, ambulances, schools, public transportation and many other parts of daily life.

“This is really catastrophic,” said Solon Cledion, director of a private school in Port-au-Prince, in a telephone interview. “The day-to-day is difficult. ... We wonder how long this is going to last.”

Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders said that its trauma hospital in Tabarre has been forced to limit patients and is only treating life-threatening emergencies. The aid group relies on generators due to ongoing power outages in Haiti.

“Without fuel, we can’t run our hospital,” Dr. Kanouté Dialla, the hospital’s manager, said in a statement. “We are doing our best to maintain our activities by adapting them from day to day, but this situation is unsustainable.”

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Coto reported from San Juan Puerto Rico.