Posted: May 13, 2026
Residents of Port-au-Prince’s Cite Soleil neighborhood took to the streets to demand government protection after a surge in gang violence last weekend forced hundreds of people to flee their homes.
Protesters said Tuesday they had seen people killed in recent days in Cité Soleil. Haitian authorities have not yet released information about casualties.
Armed gangs have tightened their grip on the Haitian capital since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse at his home. Police say the group now controls about 70% of the capital and has expanded its activities, including looting, kidnappings and sexual violence, into rural areas. Haiti has not had a president since Moïse’s murder.
Health services have also been hit. A hospital in Cité Soleil was evacuated following violent clashes on Sunday, Doctors Without Borders said in a statement Monday. Another facility serving the area, Center Hospitalier de Fontaine, said Tuesday it had suspended operations due to the violence and evacuated all patients, including 11 newborns.
Unrest arose as international security missions, backed by the United Nations, began to be dispatched. The first foreign troops, linked to UN-approved forces, arrived in April to help quell the violence.
In late September, the UN Security Council approved plans for a 5,550-member mission, but the full contingent has not yet arrived. An as yet undisclosed number of Chadian troops have been deployed.
Gang warfare has already uprooted thousands of Haitians. A report released earlier this year by the International Organization for Migration estimated that more than 1.4 million people have been displaced and that around 200,000 are currently living in overcrowded and underfunded areas of the capital.
