Cindy McCain says hunger in Haiti is ‘catastrophic’ amid gang violence

Cindy McCain, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), has sounded the alarm about hunger in Haiti as gang violence escalates in the Caribbean.

“It’s devastating. We… WFP is still there, operating to some extent in the north and a little further down into the center, but it’s a very dangerous situation,” McCain said Sunday on CBS. He said this in an interview on “Face the Nation.” “We continue with our school feeding program, but as you can see, once again UN personnel have been evacuated from schools.”

Haiti is in crisis, with rival street gangs taking control of several parts of the country, including the area around the US embassy in Port-au-Prince.

In the wake of the violence, Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned earlier this month as a transitional presidential council was established. The meeting followed talks in Jamaica with Caribbean leaders and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, where they agreed to a joint proposal to create a transition council.

Despite his resignation, gangs continue to carry out violence, with some blocking logistics routes and preventing civilians from receiving food, water and other resources.

McCain, who was married to the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said Haiti’s state of emergency was not caused by a natural disaster, but rather a “man-made crisis.”

“Again, this is a diplomatic solution. This is a man-made crisis and we need a diplomatic solution to this and we need it now. We need it now. We need it,” she said.

An estimated 1.4 million Haitians are at risk of starvation and more than 4 million need food aid, the Associated Press reported, citing aid groups. Some civilians are eating only once a day or not at all, the newswire added.

The United Nations World Food Program’s Haiti director, Jean-Martin Bauer, told The Associated Press that the country is “facing a prolonged and large-scale famine,” adding that in Croix-des-Bouquets, east of the capital, “malnutrition rates are low. is high,” he said. It rivals any conflict zone in the world. ”