▲ A motorcycle taxi driver waits for clients outside a Doctors Without Borders clinic yesterday in Port-au-Prince.Photo Ap
Reuters and Europa Press
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, November 14, 2024, p. 23
Port-au-Prince. At least two people died after being attacked after members of a vigilante group and law enforcement agents They stopped the ambulance in which they were traveling through the streets of Port-au-Prince, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported yesterday.
The aid institution detailed that the security forces intercepted the vehicle about one hundred meters from the hospital, located in Drouillard, and added that after an attempt to arrest the wounded and after firing shots into the air, the agents escorted the ambulance to the La Paix hospital.
The humanitarian organization stressed that, once at the facilities, agents and members of a self-defense group surrounded the medical unit, punctured its tires and fired tear gas at the personnel inside to force them to leave, and then transfer the wounded outside. of the enclosure and execute at least two of them.
MSF reported that its staff received insults and death threats and were detained for more than four hours, while the ambulance was disabled. The organization’s general coordinator in Haiti, Christophe Garnier, highlighted that this is “a horrific display of violence that seriously calls into question the organization’s ability to continue providing essential assistance to the Haitian population, who desperately needs it.
Our teams and patients need a minimum level of security to continue providing medical careargument. MSF called on the authorities and all parties involved to defend the right to access health care without discrimination and ensure the protection of patients, medical staff and health facilities.
As of the third quarter of the year, more than 1,200 people have died and another 522 have been injured by the violence of armed gangs, bringing the recorded fatalities to 4,900, according to a report prepared by the United Nations, in the midst of an uptick in insecurity in the Caribbean country.
On the other hand, the United States Federal Aviation Administration announced the suspension of all flights to the Caribbean island for a month due to the flight safety risks associated with continued instability after the incident that occurred the day before, in which a Spirit Airlines plane was hit by bullets after the gangs took to the streets of the capital; In addition, around twenty clashes were reported.
The agency indicated that the ban affects US civil aviation operations over Haiti below 3,000 meters for the next 30 days. Port-au-Prince International Airport closed its doors until November 18.
The United Nations also confirmed the suspension of its flights, which obviously limits the flow of humanitarian aid to the countryindicated the organization.