Criminals have been advancing for hours through the streets of Solino: “Losing this neighborhood means losing the capital,” warns one of the unions
Haitian police unions have denounced that the criminal gangs that dominate a large part of the capital, Port-au-Prince, have begun an offensive a few hours ago in the Solino neighborhood, strategic for maintaining control of the city.
“Losing Solino means losing the capital,” warned the Haitian National Police Union 17 on its account on the social network X. “If they do not take measures against the bandits who take over Solino and Nazon, we will lose the entire city,” they added.
This Friday, sources from the local newspaper ‘Metropole’ already warned that members of the Bel Air criminal organization were preparing an assault in Solino coinciding with the withdrawal of the Police for the official commemoration of the death of the considered national father, Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
The criminals set fire to several homes, especially on Anglade Street, and imposed, according to the sources of the media, “a climate of terror” in other neighborhoods. The sources are aware of a young man who died during the police counterattack.
The advance of the gangs has generated a new exodus of population in the neighborhood, amid fighting between criminals and security forces.
The unbridled violence of criminal gangs, in a context of serious economic and political crisis, has caused the displacement of almost 580,000 people since its escalation from March 2024, more than double that of 2022, as several international NGOs have recently pointed out.
In addition, they have warned, 5.4 million Haitians suffer from acute food insecurity, and two million, around 18 percent of the population, suffer from severe hunger. Of this group, 6,000 people face famine.
