US Embassy Advises Urgent Evacuation for Americans in This Country

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti on Wednesday issued a “security alert” for American citizens to leave the impoverished Caribbean country “as soon as possible” due to the deteriorating security situation.

“Given the current security situation and infrastructure challenges, U.S. citizens in Haiti should depart Haiti as soon as possible via commercial or private transport,” said the bulletin.

It continued to say that several airlines and charter companies, including American Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit, Air Caraibe, and Sunrise Airways, are offering flights out of Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien airports. American citizens still in Haiti and looking to leave via Port-au-Prince, the capital, should monitor local news frequently.

But it stipulated that “flights fill up quickly and seats may only be available several days or even weeks in advance of departure,” the Embassy said. “Given that there may be a limited number of seats, U.S. citizens should consider booking flights in advance.”

Americans should contact the U.S. Department of State if they are having issues leaving Haiti or need to request or apply for the return of a U.S. passport or another travel document to leave for the United States, according to the bulletin.

U.S. citizens who remain are urged to exercise extreme caution when traveling in Haiti and to avoid protests or large gatherings of people. If one encounters a roadblock, they should turn around and go to a safe area, the Embassy said.

Traveling to high-risk places in Haiti “may put you at increased risk for kidnapping, hostage-taking, theft, and serious injury,” said the State Department’s website. In those high-risk areas, the agency “cannot help you,” it warned.

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince on Monday also said it has restricted staff to stay at the embassy and residential compounds because of “ongoing police activity and gunfire” in the area around the compounds.

Deteriorating Conditions

Conditions in the Caribbean nation and Port-au-Prince have dramatically worsened in recent months amid escalating gang violence, while an American citizen and her daughter were kidnapped in late July and held for ransom by a criminal gang before she was returned to safety. Earlier this month, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti was closed due to gunfire in the city’s streets.

Several days ago, a gang opened fire on a church-led protest group in a suburb of Port-au-Prince, according to human rights groups. Hundreds gathered at the church near a Christian leader and marched before a local gang opened fire, a human rights director, Marie Yolene Gilles, told CNN.

However, Police Chief Frantz Elbe claimed that the group’s religious leader, identified as Marcorel Zidor, was accompanied by unidentified people wearing olive green and carrying assault rifles as they and the church members marched to the suburb, Caanan. The group, he said, was also armed with machetes and other weapons to try and rid themselves of a local gang.

The police said in a statement that they had tried to convince the religious group to stop their plan “to avoid a carnage by criminals who have an arsenal of war.” Mr. Elbe also noted that the group had not notified police about the protest as required, and that officers were unable to halt the crowd partly because it had split up into two groups.

“Police did everything to stop them,” he said at a news conference, calling the event a “tragedy.”

Amid the gang violence, hundreds of gang members have also been captured and



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