Here’s what to know about what’s been happening in Haiti.
Why has the prime minister resigned?
Ariel Henry, 72, a former neurosurgeon, has served as unelected prime minister of Haiti since the still-unsolved 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Henry was appointed by Moïse.
Amid growing political pressure as well as calls from the country’s powerful gang leaders to resign, Henry on Monday agreed to step down once a transitional presidential council is put in place and an interim leader is selected, he said in a video address to the nation.
He left Haiti last month to travel to Kenya and rally support for a U.N.-backed international police force to be deployed to Haiti.
He had attempted to return home last week, but the Dominican Republic — which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti — denied his plane permission to land. He instead headed for Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory.
Henry said in his address he would step down “immediately after the installation of this council,” the members of which are to be chosen by representatives from several sectors of Haitian society.
His government will continue to handle routine affairs until the appointment of a prime minister and a new government, he added.
What’s behind the latest violence in Haiti?
This month, Haiti was plunged into a state of emergency after armed gangs led a mass prison break and demanded the resignation of Henry, while he was abroad.
Gangs then went on to burn down a police station near the airport, where flights have been suspended. The main shipping port in the capital Port-au-Prince was also breached as gang members stormed the terminal, looting containers, damaging the port’s security apparatus and forcing it to suspend its operations indefinitely.
Food, water and medical supplies in the capital are scarce and looting has spread to supermarkets and small businesses.
Violence has trapped many residents in their homes and shut down some public hospitals. Gang roadblocks nationwide have made it nearly impossible to reach the capital by land, and the country’s border with the Dominican Republic is closed.
Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere, has no elected officials in power and has not held elections in almost a decade.
The presidency remains vacant and lawmakers’ terms have expired, which has fueled public dissatisfaction with Henry and others in power. Public services have been limited, including trash collection, and cholera has resurfaced, while gangs have terrorized the population with systematic rape, indiscriminate kidnapping and mass killing.
Haiti’s most powerful gang leader, Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer turned gang leader known as “Barbecue,” called for Haiti’s warring criminal factions to unite to oust Henry and threatened civil war if the prime minister didn’t leave.
Is it safe to travel to Haiti?
The U.S. State Department issued a level four advisory, the highest on the scale, instructing people not to travel to Haiti.
“The current security situation in Haiti is unpredictable and dangerous,” it said, urging U.S. citizens to depart despite limited travel options. “The U.S. Embassy’s ability to assist U.S. citizens is severely limited,” it added.
For those in Haiti, it advised them to avoid crowds, monitor local media for updates, avoid being out after dark and be prepared to shelter in place for an extended time.
In the absence of a functioning state, violent armed gangs have taken control of more than 80 percent of the capital, the United Nations estimates.
More than 15,000 Haitians were forced to leave their homes due to the violence perpetrated by armed gangs in the Caribbean nation in the last week, the U.N. said Monday. This is in addition to the roughly 300,000 people — more than half of them children — who were already internally displaced, due to violence.
More than 160,000 of the displaced are currently trapped in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, which is surrounded by armed groups, said the U.N.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a meeting in Jamaica to discuss Haiti on Monday that the political crisis and escalating violence “has created an untenable situation for the Haitian people.”
“We support the plan to create a broad-based, inclusive, independent presidential college,” he said of the transitional council.
He also threw support behind a U.N.-backed Multinational Security Support Mission, which involves various countries contributing personnel, equipment, and financial and logistic resources to Haiti.
It is expected to be deployed soon, Blinken said, to reinforce the Haitian National Police and “create the security conditions that are necessary to hold free and fair elections, to allow humanitarian assistance to get to people who need it, and to help put Haiti back on a path to economic opportunity and growth.”
He added that the United States would be contributing $300 million to the mission and additional humanitarian aid of $33 million.
According to Reuters, the transitional presidential council will consist of two observers and seven voting members, including representatives from political coalitions, the business sector, civil society and one religious leader. The council will appoint an interim prime minister.
Members of the council will not be allowed to run in the next elections.
“Haiti wants peace. Haiti wants stability,” Henry said while announcing his resignation. “Haiti needs to rebuild democratic institutions.”