In a new escalation of violence in Haiti this week, armed groups have reportedly looted the country’s national library in the capital Port-au-Prince.
The library’s director, D’Angelo Niard, told AFP that Haiti’s “documentary collection is at risk.”
“We have valuable documents that are over 200 years old and are important to our heritage, but they are at risk of being burned or damaged by thieves,” he said. “I heard that the thugs were trying to take furniture from the facility. They also looted the building’s generator.”
Wednesday’s looting followed last week’s attacks on the École Normale Superieure and the National School of Arts.
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A man walks near the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Oderin Joseph)
UNESCO condemned the “devastating” attack on educational and arts institutions in Port-au-Prince.
Eric Jurgenson, a former FBI agent and current senior director of security operations at risk management firm Concentric Advisors, told FOX News Digital that criminal organizations operating in the area typically “make threats or do something like They carry out these attacks to make a profit.” political advantage. ”
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“Maybe they’re trying to enforce their will or push some agenda,” Jurgenson said. “And in this case, they’re probably trying to … blackmail or coerce existing forces into establishing a new government in Haiti.”
More than 53,000 people have fled Haiti’s capital in less than three weeks to escape relentless gang violence, the United Nations reported Tuesday. More than 60% are headed to Haiti’s southern countryside.
Armed members of the G9 and Family gangs patrol a barricade in the Delmas 6 neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, March 11. (AP Photo/Oderin Joseph)
The southern region is already home to more than 116,000 Haitians who have left Port-au-Prince, according to a report by the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration.
The exodus from the capital began shortly after powerful gangs launched a series of attacks on government institutions in late February. Gunmen set fire to a police station, opened fire on the main international airport, which remains closed, and stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 prisoners.
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By March 22, more than 1,500 people had been killed and another 17,000 left homeless, according to the United Nations.
Masked members of the G9 and Family gang stand guard during the leader’s barbecue press conference in the Delmas 6 neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (AP Photo/Oderin Joseph)
The violence forced Prime Minister Ariel Henry to announce last month that he would resign once an interim presidential council was established. Henry, who was in Kenya when the attacks began to promote the United Nations-backed deployment of police from the East African country, remains barred from Haiti.
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A transitional council responsible for selecting a new prime minister and cabinet has not yet materialized.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
