PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Armored vehicles slowly pass Haiti’s National Palace as police scan the horizon for gangs. Every day, bullets whiz through the area, hitting buildings and people alike.
The gangs control most of the territory surrounding the palace, but a transitional council tasked with selecting a new prime minister and cabinet for Haiti requires its members to take the oath at the palace.
The ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday even as officials rush to impose tight security measures, according to two senior regional officials with knowledge of the matter who asked that their names be withheld because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The move to hold the ceremony at the palace is seen by some as a show of force suggesting the Haitian government is still in charge despite marauding gangs who have previously attacked the palace and vowed to derail the ceremony while a daily bombing persists. of shots. downtown Port-au-Prince.
“No one here is safe,” said Josil Djaimeska, 33, waving his hand in reference to the sprawling public park known as Champ de Mars, where he sat Tuesday morning near the palace.
Just steps from where he was sitting, a stray bullet hit Djaimeska late last week. The bullet is still in his calf and he hopes a doctor will operate on him soon.
Shortly after he spoke, a pop-pop-pop of gunfire briefly erupted nearby.
More than 2,500 people were killed or injured across Haiti from January to March, an increase of more than 50% compared to the same period last year, according to a recent UN report. Much of the violence is concentrated in Port-au-Prince.
In a speech Monday to the U.N. Security Council, Maria Isabel Salvador, U.N. special envoy for Haiti, said the council’s priorities should include a short-term security plan.
“Gang leaders and other saboteurs have expressed their intention to violently disrupt the current political process,” he said. “I cannot emphasize enough the need to assist Haiti in its efforts to restore security.”
While gangs have long operated in Haiti, they now control 80% of Port-au-Prince, and coordinated attacks launched since February 29 have paralyzed the capital and beyond. They burned police stations and hospitals, opened fire on the main international airport that has been closed since early March, and raided Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.
“I’m 63 years old and this is the first time I’ve seen something like this in Port-au-Prince,” said Renoir Auxil, who now lives in an abandoned bathroom in Champ de Mars park after gangs raided his neighborhood.
He said the current violence should not deter Haiti from moving forward.
“Whatever the circumstance, they have to be sworn into the council,” he said.
The transition council is made up of nine members, seven of them with voting power. Those who obtained a seat are Petit Desalin, a party led by former senator and presidential candidate Jean-Charles Moïse; EDE/RED, party led by former Prime Minister Claude Joseph; the Montana Compact, a group of civil society leaders, political parties and others; Fanmi Lavalas, the party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide; the Colectivo 30 de Enero, which represents parties such as that of former president Michel Martelly, and the private sector.
As preparations continue to install the council, sporadic gunshots were fired on several occasions near the National Palace on Tuesday.
It is a sound that hundreds of people who were forced to flee their homes and now live in a makeshift shelter near the palace have become accustomed to. But there is still talk about the shooting that occurred on Sunday. One of his people was hit in the back by a stray bullet in the shelter courtyard while he was buying spaghetti.
The man remains hospitalized and requires surgery, said Chesnel Joseph, 46, director of the shelter, which formerly housed Haiti’s Ministry of Communications.
Joseph once worked as a mathematics teacher, but with almost all schools in Port-au-Prince closed as a result of the violence, he is now unemployed.
Regional officials told The Associated Press that swearing in the council at the National Palace is considered too risky and that they are encouraging members to choose a safer location.
While the location of the ceremony is still being debated, some Haitians like Marie-André Blain, 46, doubt it will be held in the palace.
“There is no security in this country. “You basically just pray to God,” she said. “If the higher ranks are not safe, we ourselves are not safe.”
___
Associated Press writer Bert Wilkinson in Georgetown, Guyana, contributed.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america