U.S. authorities have again issued strong warnings against travel to Haiti, a Caribbean nation plagued by violent crime and gang activity.
The U.S. State Department said in a travel advisory on Wednesday: Specified Haiti is currently at “Level 4: Do Not Travel” and has been under a state of emergency since March.
The recommendation continues:
Crimes involving firearms are common in Haiti. They include robbery, carjacking, sexual assault, and kidnapping for ransom. Kidnappings are widespread and have resulted in U.S. citizens being injured or killed. Kidnappers may carefully plan their attacks or may target their victims randomly and unplanned. Kidnappers may even target motorcades. Kidnappings often include a ransom demand. Families of victims have paid thousands of dollars to save their loved ones.
Protests, demonstrations and roadblocks are commonplace and unpredictable. They often damage or destroy infrastructure and can escalate into violence, with killings and assaults by mobs targeting suspected criminals on the rise.
The agency also noted that armed attacks, including robberies and carjackings, are common at Port-au-Prince's airport.
“The U.S. Government's ability to assist its citizens in Haiti is extremely limited. Local police and other emergency responders often lack the resources to respond to emergencies and serious crimes,” the advisory read, adding that there are often shortages of gasoline, electricity, medicines and medical supplies.
On April 30, Haiti's Transitional Council appointed former Senate President Edgar Gardy Leblanc Fils as interim president and former youth minister Fritz Belizard as interim prime minister, Breitbart News reported.
The media continued that the leaders will serve until early 2026, “on the hope that the security situation in Haiti will stabilize sufficiently to hold national elections.”
Belizard replaces former Finance Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, who was appointed caretaker prime minister by de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who formally offered his resignation last week.
Haiti has been without an elected leader since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July 2021. Henry, who became the country's top official after the assassination, was viewed as a corrupt dictator who would do anything to cling to power and was deeply unpopular with Haitians. Henry resisted holding elections and refused to step down, but was effectively exiled in February after street gangs plunged the country into bloody chaos while the prime minister was in Africa.
July, France 24 Reported Gang wars have intensified in Port-au-Prince, causing suffering for some three million residents.
“The crisis continues despite the arrival of Kenyan police officers for the first time as part of a UN-backed multinational force to halt the violence,” it said.
Breitbart News reported in May that the daughter and son-in-law of Missouri Rep. Ben Baker (R) were killed by gang members while working as missionaries in Haiti.
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