Haiti’s main airport shuts down as gang violence surges and a new prime minister is sworn in

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s international airport shut down on Monday after gangs opened fire at a commercial flight landing in Port-Au-Prince, prompting some airlines to temporarily suspend operations as the country swore in a new interim prime minister who promised to restore peace.

The Spirit Airlines flight headed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Port-Au-Prince was just hundreds of feet from landing in Haiti's capital when gangs shot at the plane striking a flight attendant, who suffered minor injuries, according to the airline, the U.S. Embassy and flight tracking data. The flight was diverted and landed in the Dominican Republic.

Photos and videos obtained by The Associated Press show bullet holes dotting the interior of a plane.

The shooting appeared to be part of what the U.S. Embassy called “gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince which may include armed violence, and disruptions to roads, ports, and airports.” Spirit, JetBlue and American Airlines said Monday they were canceling flights to and from Haiti.

In other parts of Haiti’s capital, firefights between gangs and police broke out. Rounds of gunfire echoed through the streets as heavily armed officers ducked behind walls and civilians ran in terror. In other upper class areas, gangs set fire to homes. Schools closed as panic spread in a number of areas.

The turmoil comes a day after a council meant to reestablish democratic order in the Caribbean nation fired the interim prime minister Garry Conille, replacing him with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. The council has been marked by infighting and three members were recently accused of corruption.

As he was sworn in, Fils-Aimé said his top priorities were to restore peace to the crisis-stricken nation and hold elections, which haven’t been held in Haiti since 2016.

“There is a lot to be done to bring back hope" he said before a room of suit-clad diplomats and security officials. “I'm deeply sorry for the people ... that have been victimized, forced to leave everything they own.”

The country has seen weeks of political chaos, which observers warned could result in even more violence in a place where bloodshed has become the new normal. The country's slate of gangs have long capitalized on political turmoil to make power grabs, shutting down airports, shipping ports and stirring chaos.

The United Nations estimates that gangs control 85% of the capital of Port-au-Prince, while a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police to quell gang violence struggles with a lack of funding and personnel, prompting calls for a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Louis-Henri Mars, executive director of Lakou Lapè, an organization working on peace building in violent areas of Haiti, said the political fighting has “allowed the gangs to have more freedom to attack more neighborhoods in the city and expand their control of Port-au-Prince.” Civilians, he fears, will suffer the consequences.

“There will be more lives lost, more internal displacement, and more hunger in a country where half the population is on the brink of starvation,” he said.

The transitional council was established in April, tasked with choosing Haiti’s next prime minister and Cabinet with the hope that it would help quell violence, which exploded after Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021.

The council was meant to pave the way to democratic elections, but it has been plagued with politics and infighting, and has long been at odds with Conille, the interim prime minister they hand picked six months ago, who they fired yesterday. Gangs have capitalized on that power vacuum to make their own power grabs.

Conille railed against the council's decision to fire him, calling it an illegal overreach of their powers.

“This resolution, taken outside of any legal and constitutional framework, raises serious concerns about its legitimacy and its repercussions on the future of our country,” he wrote in a letter.

Organizations including the Organization of American States tried and failed last week to mediate disagreements in an attempt to save the fragile transition.

On Monday, U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric urged all involved in Haiti's democratic transition “to work constructively together," although he stopped short of offering an opinion on the move to oust Conille.

"Overcoming their differences and putting the country first remains critical," he said. "What is important is that Haitian political leaders put the interests of Haiti first and foremost.”

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Associated Press reporter David Koenig contributed to this report from Dallas and Pierre-Richard Luxama, contributed from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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Haiti's new Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, right, shakes hands with Transition Council President Leslie Voltaire during his swearing-in ceremony in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Haiti's new Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé reacts after his inauguration ceremony in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

People take cover from the exchange of gunfire between Gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

People watch as police officers exchange gunfire with gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Police officers patrol a street during an exchange of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A police officer looks on during an exchange of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Police officers patrol the area during an exchange of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Journalists take cover from the exchange of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Journalists take cover from the exchange of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Hours after Donald Trump was elected president for the second time, Dr. Clayton Alfonso had two messages from patients seeking to replace their IUDs. Over the next few days, three women inquired about getting their tubes tied.

All of them said the election was the reason they were making these choices now.

Requests for long-term birth control and permanent sterilizations have surged across the nation since the election, doctors told The Associated Press. And companies that sell emergency contraception and abortion pills say they're seeing significant spikes in requests from people who are stockpiling the medications — one saw a 966% increase in sales of emergency contraception from the week before in the 60 hours after the election.

“I saw this bump after the Trump election in 2016" and after Roe vs. Wade was overturned in 2022, said Alfonso, an OB-GYN at Duke University in North Carolina. “But the patients seem more afraid this time.”

Although anti-abortion advocates are pressing Trump for more restrictions on abortion pills, it's unclear what — if much — will be done regarding access to contraceptives of any kind during the second Trump administration. Trump told a Pittsburgh television station in May that he was open to supporting regulations on contraception. But after media reports on the interview, he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that he “has never and will never” advocate for restricting birth control and other contraceptives.

Alfonso said his patients want to replace still-effective IUDs and “restart” the 3-to-12-year clock on them before the inauguration. He also said the women are particularly concerned about IUDs, which have been attacked by abortion opponents who believe life begins when an egg is fertilized. Experts believe the devices work mostly by blocking fertilization, but also may make it harder for a fertilized egg to implant in the womb.

A patient who requested a tubal ligation Tuesday told Alfonso she doesn’t want kids and is “just absolutely terrified of either forced pregnancy or inability to access contraception."

Pittsburgh OB-GYN and abortion provider Dr. Grace Ferguson said more of her patients are scheduling IUD insertions or stockpiling emergency contraception, telling her upfront that it’s “because of the upcoming administration change.”

One patient, Mara Zupko, said she wants prescription emergency contraception since she’s on the cusp of the weight limit for Plan B, the most well-known over-the-counter type. Her husband is getting a vasectomy.

“We always kind of teetered on whether we wanted children or not,” said Zupko, 27. ”But as the world has become scarier and scarier, we realized we didn’t want to bring a child into that environment. And I also have several health risks.”

Women are also turning to companies that sell emergency contraception online or offer abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol through telehealth — something that's been happening even before the election, but that some companies say has accelerated.

A study earlier this year showed the abortion pill supplier Aid Access received about 48,400 requests from across the U.S. for so-called “advance provision” pills from September 2021 through April 2023 — with requests highest right after news leaked about Roe being overturned but before the formal announcement. Other research found that more women had their tubes tied post-Roe, with the biggest increases in states that ban abortion.

Mifepristone has a shelf life of about five years and misoprostol around two years, according to Plan C, an organization that provides information about medical abortions. Plan B typically has a shelf life of four years.

Telehealth company Wisp saw orders for abortion pills spike 600% between Election Day and the following day. And between Nov. 6 and 11, the company saw a 460% increase in sales of its emergency contraception and birth control offerings.

At Gen Z-focused Winx Health, which sells emergency contraception called Restart, company leaders saw a 966% increase in sales in the 60 hours following the election compared with the week before. Sales of “value packs” of Restart — four doses instead of one — were up more than 7,000% in the past week.

"Morning after pills” are legal in all states, but Winx co-founder Cynthia Plotch said many people seem confused about what emergency contraception is compared to abortion pills. In a 2023 poll by the health policy research organization KFF, a majority of responders said they know these two things aren't the same, but only 27% reported knowing emergency contraceptive pills cannot end a pregnancy.

Doctors agree confusion around morning after pills may explain some of the stockpiling. But Alfonso at Duke suspects most people are doing this for the same reason they are seeking longer-term methods of birth control: to avoid abortion by preventing pregnancy in the first place.

Alfonso predicts the birth control and abortion pill surge may level out like it did in 2016 and 2022. If the new administration “is not focused on health care right away," he said, "then I think it’ll go to the back of people’s minds until it picks up in the media.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Birth control and abortion pill requests have surged since Trump won the election

Birth control and abortion pill requests have surged since Trump won the election

FILE - Mifepristone tablets are seen in a Planned Parenthood clinic July 18, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)