Haiti’s crisis has immigration and security ramifications for St. Vincent and the surrounding region. So says St Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.
Last Sunday, on the WEFM Issue at Hand programme, Gonsalves stated that the larger region should be interested in what is going on in Haiti.
According to NBC News, suspected gang members were killed during an attack on the Petion-Ville district on the southern outskirts of Haiti’s capital, as a conflict with police and people signalled a rise of vigilante justice while the state is gone.
The current surge of violence occurs while the crisis-torn Caribbean island nation’s political future is uncertain, according to the journal.
“People in St. Vincent and the Grenadines ask, Ralph, why are you interested in this?” First and foremost, Haiti is a CARICOM member, therefore you cannot have a member facing problems and not be interested. Second, there are migratory and security concerns that could fall to us’, Gonsalves stated.
Gonsalves has long believed that the Haiti solution must be developed locally, and he has stated repeatedly that he will not send Vincentian police to Haiti.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the National Police of Haiti said that four persons were killed in two separate firefights about 1 a.m. that day, including known gang leader Makandal. Police stated they killed three suspected gang members and seized two stolen vehicles in Reinbold, on Rue de Bourdon in Port-au-Prince.
According to the National Police, the incident began when armed individuals driving these vehicles opened fire on a police patrol in Reinbold. Police reported Makandal was murdered in a separate clash in Pétion-Ville, a Port-au-Prince district.
According to Radio RFM, local residents were involved in a shootout in Petion-Ville, which is located on the southern outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince. Police officials confirmed this.
