Gang violence in Haiti has displaced nearly 580,000 people, a new UN report says

News

Gang violence in Haiti has displaced nearly 580,000 people, a new UN report says

2024-06-20 06:33 Last Updated At：06:40

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Surging violence in Haiti from clashes with armed gangs since March has displaced nearly 580,000 people, according to a new report from the U.N. migration agency, a sobering figure that underscores the magnitude of the Caribbean nation's crisis.

Haiti has long faced unrest but at the end of February, gangs unleashed coordinated attacks with gunmen taking control of police stations, opening fire on the main international airport that remained closed for nearly three months and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons.

A report released on Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration said the displacement of more than half a million is mainly due to people fleeing the capital of Port-au-Prince for other provinces, which lack the resources to support them.

In March, the agency reported more than 362,000 internally displaced people in Haiti. Since then, the violence has more than doubled the number of internally displaced in the southern region — already ravaged by a 2021 earthquake — from 116,000 to 270,000.

“Nearly all those internally displaced are currently hosted by communities already struggling with overburdened social services and poor infrastructure, raising further concerns about tensions with the potential to spark further violence,” the report said.

With more than 2,500 people killed or injured across Haiti in the first three months of the year, Haiti’s National Police, understaffed and overwhelmed by gangs with powerful arsenals, has been unable to bring the situation under control.

Marie Jean, 49, and her two children were displaced from their Port-au-Prince home after her husband was killed by a gang in February. She’s now sheltered with her children at a public school.

“I lived in a comfortable home that my husband worked hard to build,” Jean told The Associated Press. “Now I’m living in a situation that’s inhuman.”

Juste Dorvile, 39, is also staying at a public school with her 12-year-old daughter and boyfriend as gunshots are heard constantly in the area. “Everyday we're hoping that we survive,” she said.

With the gangs in control of at least 80% of Port-au-Prince and key roads leading to the rest of the country, many are living in makeshift shelters, including schools and learning institutions that are now hosting more than 60,000 people.

The gangs have also been charging fees for those wanting to use the highways or blackmailing drivers to get their hijacked trucks back on the roads, where police presence is scarce.

Haiti's new acting prime minister, Garry Conille, who was appointed last month along with a Cabinet, attended a ceremony on Tuesday where over 400 officers graduated from the police academy, with the expectation that they will help curb gang violence in Haiti. He reminded the graduates that the people count on their dedication to combat insecurity.

“You need to know that you are not alone,” Conille said. “You are the hope of the population at this crucial moment in our history.”

Violence is also on the rise outside Haiti’s capital. Last week, armed gangs attacked families located in Terre-Neuve, a village in northern Haiti, forcing more than 1,000 people to flee their homes to safer areas.

Murphy Marcos reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Latest | Trump and Biden squared off for the first time in the 2024 election season

2024-06-28 11:09 Last Updated At：11:10

ATLANTA (AP) — The first general election debate of the 2024 season has come to a close, with U.S. President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, clashing on immigration and climate change and launching deeply personal attacks on each other Thursday evening in Atlanta.

Biden, the Democratic incumbent, had the opportunity to reassure voters that, at 81, he’s capable of guiding the U.S. through a range of challenges. Meanwhile, the 78-year-old Trump could use the moment to try to move past his felony conviction in New York and convince an audience of tens of millions that he’s temperamentally suited to return to the Oval Office. Thursday’s debate in Atlanta marks at least a couple of firsts — never before have two White House contenders faced off at such advanced ages, and never before has CNN hosted a general election presidential debate.

Currently:

— How the Biden-Trump debate could change the trajectory of the 2024 campaign

— Here’s what’s at stake for Biden and Trump in this week’s presidential debate

— A look at the false claims candidates may present mid-debate

Here’s the latest:

As the debate came to a close, Donald Trump supporter retired police officer Nick Glaub, of Ross, Ohio, watched with his feet kicked up onto a nearby performance stage, a can of Corona sitting on the table.

Glaub was pleased with Trump’s debate performance and said he noticed the lack of attack lines from Trump.

“I just think he held his composure,” he said.

Chuck Thompson, a Trump supporter from Mason, Ohio, who came to the watch party decked in an American flag button-down shirt, was also pleased with Trump’s debate performance, noting the difference in tone from Trump’s last debate against President Biden in 2020.

“He didn’t lash out,” Thompson said. “He’s learned how to control his temper.

President Joe Biden began his closing statement with a voice that was even scratchier than earlier and was at times hard to understand.

He said of his administration, “We’ve made significant progress from the debacle that was left by President Trump is in his last term” but also flubbed the price cuts on insulin he helped champion, saying $35 when he meant $15.

In his closing statement, former President Donald Trump tried again to lump Biden in with other career politicians, calling Biden “a complainer.”

He also said that the public and foreign leaders don’t respect Biden, saying, “The whole country is exploding because of you.”

Though asked three times, former President Donald Trump never directly affirmed that he would accept the election results, no matter who wins.

Several times Trump noted that he would accept the results “if it’s a fair and legal and good election” but wouldn’t give a yes or no answer to moderator Dana Bash’s inquiries.

The follow-ups came after Trump ultimately denounced political violence as “totally unacceptable.”

After the moderator asked Trump three times whether he would accept the results of the November election, Joe Biden responded that he doubted Trump would “because you’re such a whiner.”

Biden noted there was no evidence of any widespread fraud in the 2020 election and that multiple courts had dismissed challenges brought by Trump’s campaign.

Joe Biden uses the term “illegal aliens” while responding to Donald Trump’s attacks on immigration.

He said that while Trump accuses migrants of taking away jobs, he said “there’s a reason why we have the fastest growing economy in the world.”

It’s not the first time Biden has used terms that are rejected by immigrant rights’ groups and are not favored by Democrats. In March, during his State of the Union speech, he referred to a suspect in the killing of a Georgia nursing student as an “illegal” and later said he regretted using that term.

“I shouldn’t have used illegal, it’s undocumented,” he said in an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart.

More than 80 minutes into the debate, President Joe Biden, 81, and former President Donald Trump, 78, were asked about their age and ability to serve well into his 80s.

Biden, answering with the hoarse voice he’s had all night, launched on a litany of policy achievements and noted that Trump is only “three years younger.”

Biden also used the answer to slap at Trump for bad-mouthing the U.S. “The idea that we are some kind of failing country? I’ve never heard a president talk like that before,” Biden said.

In his retort, Trump bragged on his golf game and said he’s in as good a shape as he was 25 years ago and perhaps “even a little bit lighter.”

At two different moments in the debate, Joe Biden said either 159 or 158 presidential historians voted Donald Trump the worst president in U.S. history.

He admitted he didn’t have the exact number, and he was right, though he wasn’t far off.

The survey in question, a project from professors at the University of Houston and Coastal Carolina University, included 154 usable responses, from 525 respondents invited to participate.

More than an hour into the debate, the candidates finally talked about climate change, which Joe Biden has called an existential crisis and a top priority of his presidency.

Trump, after initially declining to answer on climate, said he wants “absolutely immaculate, clean water and I want absolutely clean air.’’

He said that during his administration, “we were using all forms of energy, all forms, everything’’ and claimed he “had the best environmental numbers ever.’’

It was unclear what he was referring to.

Biden called climate change the greatest threat to humanity, adding that Trump “didn’t do a darn thing about it.’’

Biden cited the 2022 passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which is authorizes billions for clean energy. Biden called it the most significant climate legislation ever passed.

When former President Donald Trump was asked what he would do about climate change, he said that the U.S. had “absolutely immaculate, clean water” and air when he was president.

Joe Biden retorted: “He hasn’t done a damn thing” for the environment.

Climate change isn’t an area where Americans think Trump performed especially well as president. Nearly half of Americans said Trump hurt the country on climate change while he was president, while relatively few Americans — only about 1 in 10 — said Trump’s presidency helped the country. About 4 in 10 say he neither helped nor hurt.

They’re more likely to see a positive effect from Biden’s presidency, but it’s not an overwhelming endorsement. Nearly half say Biden neither helped nor hurt the country on climate change, while about 3 in 10 say he helped a lot or a little and roughly 2 in 10 say he hurt the country.

Trump falsely claimed that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “turned down” his offer to send “10,000 soldiers or National Guard” to the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Pelosi does not direct the National Guard. Further, as the Capitol came under attack, she and then-Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell called for military assistance, including from the National Guard.

The Capitol Police Board decides on whether to call National Guard troops to the Capitol. It is made up of the House Sergeant at Arms, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Architect of the Capitol. The board decided not to call the guard ahead of the insurrection but did eventually request assistance after the rioting had already begun, and the troops arrived several hours later.

There is no evidence that either Pelosi or McConnell directed the security officials not to call the guard beforehand.

Almost 45 minutes into the debate, President Joe Biden finally referenced former President Donald Trump’s recent felony conviction in New York.

During a discussion about the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Biden said: “The only person on this stage that’s a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at right now,” referring to Trump.

Trump then sought to pivot from his own legal troubles by referring to Biden’s son, Hunter, as a “convicted felon.”

He was referencing the younger Biden’s felony conviction this month on three firearms charges. Trump also repeated long-running claims related to the Bidens and Ukraine, a frequent attack point for Republicans.

Debate questions are turning to Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol during the certification of the Electoral College vote count.

Trump was asked by host Jake Tapper whether he violated his oath to protect and defend the Constitution.

Asked about the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump quickly pivoted to immigration and taxes. Pressed on his role, he said he encouraged people to act “peacefully and patriotically,” then attacked former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The rioters on Jan. 6 engaged in hand-to-hand combat with police and used makeshift weapons, including flagpoles, a table leg, hockey stick and crutch, to attack officers. Police officers were bruised and bloodied as they were dragged into the crowd and beaten. One officer was crushed in a doorframe and another suffered a heart attack after a rioter pressed a stun gun against his neck and repeatedly shocked him.

More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal offenses stemming from the riot. Of those, more than 850 have guilty people have pleaded guilty to crimes, including seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers. About 200 others have been convicted at trial.

In first half hour of debate, a raspy Joe Biden has delivered rambling answers that sometimes trail off as he defends his policies and record.

Donald Trump has countered with falsehoods on issues including the economy, abortion and NATO members’ defense spending.

The two have also exchanged deeply personal attacks.

Joe Biden pushed back at Donald Trump bragging about pushing European allies to put more money into defense. “This is a guy who wants to pull out of NATO,” Biden said, adding that he “got 50 other nations” to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

Biden forcefully responded to Trump’s NATO comments, saying: “He has no idea what the hell he’s talking about.”

About 6 in 10 Americans see NATO membership as a very or somewhat good thing for the U.S., while about one-quarter say it’s neither good nor bad and only about 1 in 10 say it’s very or somewhat bad, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in February.

The questioning during Thursday's debate turned to foreign policy beginning with the Russian war in Ukraine, which is now in its third year.

Former President Donald Trump suggested Russia never would have attacked Ukraine if he had been in office.

“If we had a real president, a president that knew that was respected by Putin, he would have never he would have never invaded Ukraine,” he said.

Trump has a long history of positive comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s toughness, including calling Putin’s tactics in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine “genius” and “very savvy.”

Trump expresses no such warmth for Ukraine or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, most recently calling him a “salesman” this month for the Ukrainian leader’s military aid requests to the United States.

Former President Donald Trump complained that migrants who arrive in the country illegally are housed in “luxury hotels” while veterans are on the street.

As expected, he also leaned heavily on discussing migrant crime. He also said migrants are coming into the U.S. illegally from “mental institutions” and “insane asylums.” He has not provided evidence for that claim, which he has frequently made at rallies.

Trump also said he had the “safest border border in history” — a highly questionably claim and a familiar talking point.

President Joe Biden has stuck to his talking points on immigration, highlighting 40% drop in arrests for illegal immigration since issuing an executive order suspending asylum.

He’s trying to gain ground on immigration, which has risen as a national priority, not just among Republicans.

Just 3 in 10 Americans approve of Biden’s handling of immigration, according to an AP-NORC poll from June. About 6 in 10 Democrats approve of Biden’s approach to the issue, but only about 2 in 10 Independents and fewer than 1 in 10 Republicans agree.