the assassination in haiti

Haiti president's assassination: What we know so far

• Published 1 February 2023
• Jovenel Moise assassination

Three Haitian Americans and a Colombian have been charged in the US over the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.

Seven people in total have now been charged in the US.

His death in his private residence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, plunged the country, already suffering from rising violence and an economic crisis made worse by natural disasters, into further turmoil.

Police say a group of mercenaries, most of them Colombians, was behind the attack, which they suspect a Haitian doctor of ordering as part of a plot to become president.

Dozens of people have been arrested in connection with the case. But for the most part, the investigation has been slow, and the exact details about the people who carried out the plan and their real motives are only beginning to emerge.

How was he killed?

Moïse, 53, was shot dead inside his home in the Pelerin 5 neighbourhood, in the hills above Port-au-Prince at 01:00 local time on 7 July 2021, according to police.

The president was shot 12 times and had bullet wounds to his forehead and several to his torso. His left eye had been gouged out and bones in his arm and in his ankle had been broken, according to one of the judges conducting the investigation.

He died at the scene and was found lying on the floor on his back, his shirt soaked in blood. The first lady, Martine Moïse, was also shot but survived.

Who shot him?

Haitian police allege a group of mainly foreign mercenaries - 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans - made up the group that carried out the killing.

An investigating judge said the two Haitian Americans had told interrogators they had been hired as interpreters on the internet.

The two allege that they did not know there was a plan afoot to kill the president but believed they were to act as interpreters when he was arrested. Haiti's official languages are Creole and French, while the Colombian suspects speak Spanish.

One of the Haitian Americans said he had been given what he believed was an arrest warrant for the president.

Most of the Colombian detainees have been identified as former soldiers, including a lieutenant-colonel. Family members told Colombian media the suspects had told them that they had been hired "to provide security" in Haiti.

After retiring from the army, many Colombian soldiers go on to work for security firms abroad, mainly in the United Arab Emirates, where they are valued for their training and experience in fighting armed groups.

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Haiti parades suspects after president's murder

At the end of January 2023, dual Haitian American citizens James Solages and Joseph Vincent, as well as Colombian citizen Germán Alejandro Rivera García, were charged by the US justice department with conspiracy in connection to the murder.

Another Haitian American man, Dr Christian Emmanuel Sanon, was charged with smuggling.

According to the US justice department, Mr Solages and Dr Sanon met in April 2021 "to discuss regime change in Haiti and support for Sanon, an aspiring Haitian political candidate".

Three other people, including a Haitian former senator, have been charged so far in connection with the case the US.

Who hired the Colombians?

Haitian police chief Léon Charles said Dr Sanon, who was arrested after the assassination, was a "key suspect" in the case.

According to Mr Charles, Dr Sanon hired 26 of the 28-strong hit squad through a Miami-based company called CTU, run by Venezuelan national Tony Intriago. Dr Sanon, he added, was "the first person" that one of the Colombian suspects had called when police surrounded them.

Dr Sanon, a 63-year-old doctor who lived in Florida, arrived in Haiti on a private jet in early June with "political motives", Mr Charles said, adding that police had found weapons, ammunition and a Drug Enforcement Administration cap in his possession.

The police chief suggested that the Colombians might have been duped by Dr Sanon, who was planning to become Haiti's president.

"The initial mission that was given to these assailants was to protect the individual named Emmanuel Sanon, but afterwards the mission changed," he said without clarifying if all or any of the suspects had been briefed about the changes.

Another prime suspect, according to Mr Charles, was former Haitian senator John Joel Joseph, who allegedly supplied weapons and planned meetings. He was arrested in January in Jamaica.

But still on the run is Joseph Felix Badio, a former official in the justice ministry's anti-corruption unit, also seen as a key suspect in the case.

How did the assailants gain access?

Video footage, not independently verified but thought to have been taken by residents, shows armed men dressed in black arriving in several vehicles.

A man, thought to be a security guard, appears to have been forced to lie face down in the street while another man can be heard shouting in English over a loudspeaker, "DEA [US Drug Enforcement Administration} operation, everybody stay down!"

Haiti's ambassador to the US, Bocchit Edmond, said that while the attackers had disguised themselves as US drug agents, he believed there was "no way" they really were US agents.

Officials say the ground between the property's gatehouse and the residence was littered with cartridge cases, indicating that multiple shots were fired.

Yet the only people injured by bullets were the president and his wife, a fact which has raised questions about the possible complicity of the president's guards.

The group seems to have met little or no resistance inside the residence or during their initial getaway.

Two domestic staff were tied up and the presidential couple's adult daughter, Jomarlie, hid in her brother's bedroom and was unhurt.

The timeline immediately after the assassination is not very clear. Some of the suspects were reportedly tracked down to a house nearby, which was then surrounded by police.

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• Jovenel Moise

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Inside Haiti: a country in turmoil

Haiti's political and social order has suffered repeated setbacks, from a presidential assassination to a major earthquake, aggravating a power vacuum increasingly filled by armed gangs vying for power.

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The flight of aid workers and diplomats leaves Haitians on their own

The United Nations asked this year for $674 million in aid for the beleaguered Caribbean nation. Donors have contributed $94 million — less than 14 percent.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Almost all the beds at La Paix University Hospital are occupied. Critical medical supplies, including blood collection tubes, are running low. Doctors are operating without blood; they fear they’ll soon run out of anesthesia, too.

The stream of patients, meanwhile, is unrelenting. There are those who have been attacked by the armed gangs that control 80 percent of the capital . Stroke patients. Women in labor. People with kidney failure who need dialysis — and are turned away because it’s not available.

Once, the staff at La Paix was augmented by international doctors, director Jean Philippe Lerbourg said, helping their Haitian counterparts after the 2010 earthquake that killed 220,000 people here.

Now, as Haiti confronts what aid workers say is the worst humanitarian crisis since then, there’s far less international help. The hospital’s Haitian doctors and nurses — many of whom have themselves been forced from their homes by the criminal paramilitaries who kidnap, rape and kill with impunity — are on their own.

“The staff understands that help won’t come from the outside, so they come to work,” Lerbourg said. “The current situation falls on us. It’s quite a heavy burden that we can’t just drop and leave.”

Under skies throbbing with helicopters carrying diplomats and aid workers away, as the world responds to crises in Gaza and Ukraine, Haitians are banding together through political chaos, rampant violence and endemic poverty to keep themselves and each other alive.

Jacky Lumarque, the rector of Quisqueya University in Port-au-Prince, remembers a “spirit of [international] solidarity” after the earthquake. It’s absent today.

“Haiti has no friends,” Lumarque said. “We are alone in the world.”

The United Nations has appealed to donors this year for $674 million in aid for Haiti. They’ve contributed $97 million — 14 percent. Last year, the request was $720 million; only 35 percent was met.

There’s “a lot of competition at the moment” for aid, according to Carl Skau, deputy director of the World Food Program. The crisis in Haiti, meanwhile, is “complex” and “requires an equally complex response.”

“But it’s really unacceptable, frankly, that Haiti is at the state it is at the moment,” Skau told The Washington Post. “The Haitians deserve that the world pay attention and step up support.”

More than 2,500 people have been wounded or killed in the first quarter of 2024, most of them by gangs, the U.N. office here has reported — the most violent period since it started tracking such attacks in 2022. More than 90,000 people in the capital alone have been forced from their homes.

Growing gangs have filled the power vacuum here opened by the still-unsolved assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 . In recent months, they’ve busted open prisons, laid siege to police stations and shut down the international airport.

More ominously, they control the main roads in and out of the capital, have attacked the main seaport, and assaulted a key fuel terminal, prompting fears of shortages and stranding supplies . The violence has spread to the countryside — Haiti’s breadbasket — as half the population faces acute hunger.

Armed gang members control many displacement camps and force young people to have sex with them for aid, said Guerda Previlon, who helps children and young mothers who have been forced from their homes.

“There is no life in these spaces,” said Previlon, the founder and executive director of the Haiti-based Initiative for Youth Development. “It’s not a living environment for children.”

Ariel Henry, Haiti’s embattled prime minister, resigned last week and a transitional government was sworn in. Standing up that council of Haitian leaders was a condition for the deployment of a U.N.-approved, Kenyan-led international police force , but it’s unclear when it will get here.

The U.N. mission here, meanwhile, has reduced its presence to essential personnel — and could shrink further amid concerns over continued access to clean drinking water and fuel.

U.S. Southern Command last week coordinated four military flights to Port-au-Prince to bolster embassy security and deliver privately donated aid, including oral hydration fluids and medicines.

There’s much about the response to the 2010 quake that Haitians are keen to not repeat. Billions of dollars in aid was allocated to international organizations, but much was mismanaged. U.N. peacekeepers were blamed for a cholera outbreak that caused almost 10,000 deaths.

Still, aid workers and Haitians say the response today is grossly insufficient.

“I do not see the mobilization of donors in proportion to the seriousness of the crisis,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, the World Food Program’s Haiti director. “I have been working at WFP for 23 years. When I started, there was not Yemen, Sudan, Ukraine [and] Gaza burning at the same time.”

The Center for Peasant Animation and Community Action, a nonprofit in Port-au-Prince that collaborates with WFP and other aid groups, has provided more than 300,000 meals to displaced people here since February.

On a recent visit, cooks prepared rice, peppers and sardines. Benita Isidore Tranquile was one of them. She was chased from her home by gangs in 2015, she said. The violence has prevented her husband from driving his taxi, so she’s now the family’s main breadwinner.

“This work brings me a lot of joy,” Tranquile told The Post.

The crisis has forced the group to hire more workers, according to Herns Francemy, the assistant to its program manager. It struggles to procure supplies, he said, including fuel and water.

“Some people depend on the food we provide every day. We face resource problems to cover the people in need,” Francemy said. “Nevertheless, I feel proud to be able to meet the needs of those people. Some people say they would have starved to death if it wasn’t for us.”

Lerbourg, the hospital director, grew up dreaming of becoming a teacher or a lawyer, but his mother discouraged him. His parents have since left Haiti, but Lerbourg stayed behind with his wife and son because he felt he could be useful. He didn’t want to be “just another social security number.”

“I love medicine, and I can’t see myself doing anything else,” Lerbourg said. “As soon as I pass the hospital gate, my mood changes. I forget my personal problems and grievances regarding the situation. I’m here to save lives.”

Coletta reported from Toronto.

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The Americas

A year after the president's assassination, haitians endure a broken nation or flee.

The Associated Press

Barbecue, the leader of the "G9 and Family" gang, stands next to garbage Oct. 22 to call attention to the conditions people live in as he leads a march against kidnapping through La Saline neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The group said they were also protesting poverty and for justice in the slaying of President Jovenel Moise. Odelyn Joseph/AP hide caption

Barbecue, the leader of the "G9 and Family" gang, stands next to garbage Oct. 22 to call attention to the conditions people live in as he leads a march against kidnapping through La Saline neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The group said they were also protesting poverty and for justice in the slaying of President Jovenel Moise.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A year has passed since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his private home where an elite security team was supposed to protect him. Not only have authorities failed to identify and arrest all those who masterminded and financed the killing, but Haiti has gone into a freefall as violence soars and the economy tumbles.

Many have fled Haiti in the past year, making potentially deadly voyages aboard rickety boats filled with hundreds of Haitians that have repeatedly turned up on the shores of nearby nations. They chose to face that risk rather than go hungry and fear for their lives, as do many people who have stayed behind.

"Every day is a fight. It's a fight to stay alive. It's a fight to eat. It's a fight to survive," said Hector Duval, a plumber who now drives a motorcycle taxi to make more money since Haitians are afraid to board slow-moving buses and chance being killed by warring gangs.

Killings have soared and thousands of families have been driven from their homes by gangs battling over territory ever since Moïse was shot to death shot last July 7 at his home near the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Even Before Jovenel Moïse's Assassination, Haiti Was In Crisis

Latin America

Ex-colombian soldiers' arrests add to the mystery around the haiti assassination.

An overwhelmed government is struggling to crack down on the gangs and reduce a spike in kidnappings linked to them. At the same time, attempts to form a coalition government have faltered in recent weeks and efforts to hold general elections have stalled, leaving many wondering where Haiti is headed.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry has promised to create a new provisional electoral council, which is responsible for organizing general elections, but that hasn't happened. There hasn't been a Parliament because the government failed to organize elections in 2019, and Moïse dismissed most lawmakers in early 2020 and ruled by decree for more than a year before he was killed.

People stand on a capsized boat, left, as some of its passengers are pulled up on to a rescue boat, top, May 12 in the open waters northwest of Puerto Rico. Seventh U.S. Coast Guard District via AP hide caption

People stand on a capsized boat, left, as some of its passengers are pulled up on to a rescue boat, top, May 12 in the open waters northwest of Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, hopes for a trial for those arrested in the killing of the president have been derailed by the resignation of four judges appointed to oversee the investigation, with some saying they feared for their lives.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry himself has recognized the uncertainty hovering over the case. Last month, he tweeted: "I have the unpleasant feeling that those who conceived and financed this macabre plan are still running the streets and are still escaping our judicial system."

More than 40 people have been arrested in Haiti, including high-ranking police officers and a group of former Colombian soldiers. At least two of three suspects detained outside Haiti were extradited to the U.S., where they face charges including conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States.

Many of the soldiers' relatives in Colombia are demanding a proper judicial process and an improvement in dire prison conditions.

"A lot of time there is no food, no potable water," Nataly Andrade, wife of retired Col. Giovanny Guerrero, told The Associated Press. She visited him in prison in May and was alarmed at how much weight he had lost. In recent weeks, at least eight inmates in southern Haiti, not connected to the Moïse case, have died from heat and malnutrition.

Moïse's widow, Martine, continues to demand justice. She issued a statement this month saying she would not attend any of Thursday's commemorations organized by the Haitian state, "whose head of government is the subject of serious suspicions of (involvement in) the assassination of the President of the Republic."

Henry has brushed away those allegations, firing a chief prosecutor last year who asked a judge to charge the prime minister in the killing and bar him from leaving the country. The prosecutor had noted that Henry spoke twice with a key suspect hours after the killing.

Henry's office has said the prime minister is unable to identify everyone who called him that day or determine the nature of the conversations since he couldn't take all the calls. The suspect remains at large.

Henry is urging Haitians to focus on turning around their country.

"It is imperative that Haitians work together to reconcile segments of our society that are too divided," he said. "This is a must if we want to restore security, deal with armed gangs and their sponsors, create a climate conducive to the holding of elections with a high turnout, in order to rebuild our democratic institutions."

But a growing number of Haitians blame Henry for the growing insecurity.

A supporter of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide wears stickers of him and late South African President Nelson Mandela on June 26 during a march in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The demonstrators are asking Aristide to get involved in finding a solution for the current situation of political chaos and lawlessness that is engulfing the Caribbean nation. Odelyn Joseph/AP hide caption

A supporter of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide wears stickers of him and late South African President Nelson Mandela on June 26 during a march in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The demonstrators are asking Aristide to get involved in finding a solution for the current situation of political chaos and lawlessness that is engulfing the Caribbean nation.

The United Nations says that almost seven kidnappings are reported a day and that in May alone more than 200 killings and 198 abductions were reported in the country of more than 11 million people. Those kidnappings included two busloads of children and three U.N. employees and their dependents. In addition, one gang recently seized control of part of Haiti's Court of First Instance, looting and burning case files and evidence.

"Even though we have a prime minister, no one is governing the country right now," Ralf Jean-Pierre, a businessman from Les Cayes who lives in Port-au-Prince, said as he scanned the street while talking, fearful he might be kidnapped at any moment.

He said life for him and his family has become extremely difficult because he can't ferry goods such as bananas, yams and tomatoes that grow in southern Haiti to the capital since warring gangs have taken over the main road connecting the two regions.

The lack of access also means that not enough aid is reaching those affected by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck the south almost a year ago, killing more than 2,200 people and destroying or damaging hundreds of thousands of homes and other buildings.

Thousand have fled Haiti. The largest single incident came in late May, when 842 Haitians were stranded on the Cuban coast after their captain abandoned the boat. Hundreds of others have landed in Florida, while dozens have died at sea in recent months.

Claudia Julmiste, a nursing student, said she is trying to make ends meet by reselling underwear, bras and wigs that she buys in the neighboring Dominican Republic, although Haiti's double-digit inflation has hit her and many others hard.

"I'm trying to make the best of it here," she said. "I don't want to be one of those kids getting on a boat at sea to die, but Haiti is not offering anything."

• assassination
• Jovenel Moïse

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https://www.barrons.com/news/gangs-storm-another-police-station-in-haiti-officials-b1fdb114

• FROM AFP NEWS

Gangs Storm Another Police Station In Haiti: Officials

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Gangs stormed a police station on the outskirts of Haiti's capital overnight into Saturday, a police union told AFP, as a transitional ruling council struggled to restore order in the violence-wracked Caribbean nation.

The police station is located in the town of Gressier, south of Port-au-Prince, said Lionel Lazarre of the Haitian police union.

Videos shared on social media showed civilians armed with assault rifles inside the police building. Several vehicles in the building's parking lot were afire.

Reached by AFP, local authorities were unable to say how many people were hurt in the attack.

A resident of Gressier, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the fighting lasted several hours and that the police had to retreat in the face of "the bandits' striking power."

Local residents were forced to flee their homes in the morning because of the violence, the woman said.

Haiti has had no president since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in 2021 and it has no sitting parliament. Its last election was in 2016, and the new transitional council is still struggling to assert its authority.

The country has been wracked for decades by poverty, natural disasters, political instability and gang violence, which has grown worse in recent months with gangs attacking the capital's airport, prisons, police stations and other strategic targets.

Another police union, SPNH-17, said in a statement on social media that gangs now control 25 police stations and branches in the country.

str/cjc/md/bbk

Gangs stormed a police station on the outskirts of Haiti's capital overnight into Saturday, a police union told AFP, as a transitional ruling council struggled to restore order in the violence-wracked Caribbean nation.

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May 8, 2024

Pressley, Haiti Caucus, Colleagues, Advocates Renew Calls for Federal Action to Stabilize Haiti, Address Growing Crisis on the Island

Lawmakers Continue Calls for Extending TPS for Haiti, Halting Deportations, Disrupting Arms Trafficking, Providing Humanitarian & Economic Assistance, and More

Press Conference (Twitter) | Photos (Dropbox)

WASHINGTON  – Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), along with Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01), Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (FL-24), and Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13), held a Capitol Hill press conference with colleagues and advocates to renew their calls for urgent federal action to address the growing crisis in Haiti. The press conference comes at a time when the humanitarian, political, economic, and security crises in Haiti are becoming increasingly dire. 

The policies called for by the lawmakers and advocates include: extending and redesignating TPS for Haiti; halting all deportations to Haiti; disrupting arms trafficking to the island; providing urgent humanitarian relief; preventing the transfer of Haitian nationals to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; passing a new economic assistance package that creates jobs and rebuilds Haiti’s infrastructure; facilitating the establishment of a representative transitional government led by Haitian civil society; and more.

“Our Haitian siblings on the island and throughout the diaspora should know that we have not forgotten them and we will never stop fighting for the just and equitable future the Haitian people need and deserve,” said Congresswoman Pressley, Co-Chair of the House Haiti Caucus. “Congress and the Biden Administration have a moral obligation to take action to stabilize Haiti and to save lives, including by providing humanitarian and economic assistance, extending TPS for Haiti, halting deportations, supporting a democratic transition led by Haitian civil society, and more. If we truly believe Black lives matter, then that must include Haitian lives.” “Our nation owes a debt to Haiti. Repayment begins by helping ensure that a Haitian-led democracy rings true in their communities, in the United States, and across the globe. We must take every action necessary to secure a democratic transition led by Haiti’s civil society, and that includes providing vital humanitarian and economic aid, expediting visa processing, cracking down on illegal arms trafficking, and extending TPS and halting deportations. Congress has a responsibility to support Haitian stability and the safety of all its people, and it holds the power to deliver the progress our Haitian neighbors at home and abroad are counting on. In this dire moment where the future of our beloved Caribbean ally is at risk and millions of lives remain imperiled, inaction is inexcusable,” said Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, Co-Chair of the House Haiti Caucus. “In the face of the crisis in Haiti, our moral compass and international duty compel us to step forward, not just to alleviate the immediate suffering of the Haitian people, but to address the systemic problems forcing Haitians to flee their homeland. The extension and re-designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), alongside an expedited parole program and an immediate halt to deportations, are critical first steps. But our responsibility does not end there. We must confront the root causes of migration by: (1) ensuring that Haitians can live safely and peacefully within their own borders; (2) taking a firm stand against the trafficking of firearms from places like Florida to Haiti; (3) holding those who perpetuate violence and instability accountable,” said Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus McCormick, Co-Chair of the House Haiti Caucus . “As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I have a pulse on the challenges facing our allies around the world. Just as we have extended our support to them during their time of need, Haiti deserves the same treatment. The time for action is now – to protect lives, foster security, and promote stability where Haitians can thrive in their own country.” “To deport people back to Haiti is a cause and kiss of death,” said Congresswoman Frederica Wilson . “There is nothing in Haiti but suffering, so we have to say to the President of the United States, ‘Stop the deportation.’ Not only expand TPS but stop the deportation and support the new government that we are putting together in Haiti. This government is being supported by the international community, the United States government, and the Caribbean community; it is Haitian-led. We must fund them—fund them just as we do other countries. Fund them! Fund them just like you fund other countries.”

The lawmakers were joined by Guerline Jozef, Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, Patrice Lawrence, Executive Director of UndocuBlack Network, Mary Estimé-Irvin, Chairwoman of National Haitian American Elected Officials Network, Tessa Petit, Executive Director of Florida Immigrant Coalition, and impacted families and TPS recipients.

“It’s urgent for President Biden to re-designate and extend TPS for Haiti,” said Guerline Jozef, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Haitian Bridge Alliance . “Equally vital is for the United States Congress to pass an economic package supporting job creation and key infrastructure projects. Additionally, the Biden administration must immediately cease the deportation of Haitian nationals. Sending people to a country plagued by insecurity and humanitarian crises is  unconscionable. The disparate treatment of Black immigrants must come to an end!” “UndocuBlack Network calls on the Biden- Harris administration to end the cruelty against Haitians. It is cruel to deport Haitian nationals while arranging for evacuation of American nationals at the same time. Our ask is simple, honor the dignity of Haitian people. If Secretary Mayorkas leads by these values, he will release Haitians from detention, extend and redesignate TPS for Haiti and stop the deportations now. To be the change President Biden claimed to be, he must act differently from his predecessors especially as it relates to Black immigrants,” said Patrice Lawrence, Executive Director, UndocuBlack Network. “The painful reality of the Haitian people is complex and multi-layered.  However, the immediate steps that need to be taken can happen with the stroke of a pen. It is time for the Administration to redesignate and extend TPS for Haiti. It is also crucial that all deportation of Haitians be immediately halted,” said Tessa Petit, Executive Director, Florida Immigrant Coalition. “Haitians need security, justice, understanding and acceptance.  That will only be possible with the will from the administration to support Haiti by addressing its root causes, through a comprehensive humanitarian and economic support that will change the future of the Haitian people.” “An economic plan akin to the Marshall Plan is essential to aid Haiti, which is located less than 90 miles from our shores, in addition to humanitarian assistance and the reconsideration of TPS,” said Mary Estimé-Irvin, Chairwoman, National Haitian American Elected Officials Network . “Like Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, Haiti is a sovereign nation that requires support.”

Footage from the press conference can be found here , and photos can be found here .

As Representative for the Massachusetts 7 th  Congressional District, Congresswoman Pressley serves as Co-Chair for the House Haiti Caucus and represents one of the largest Haitian diaspora communities in the country, with approximately 46,000 Haitians and Haitian-Americans living across the state and over half in the Boston metropolitan area. Additionally, Massachusetts is home to more than 4,700 Haitians with Temporary Protected Status.

• On April 23, 2024, Rep. Pressley, alongside Co-Chairs Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), led a group of 50 lawmakers urging the Biden Administration to redesignate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), pause on deportations back to Haiti, extend humanitarian parole to any Haitians currently detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention centers, end detention of Haitian migrants intercepted at sea, and provide additional humanitarian assistance for Haiti.
• On April 18, 2024, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs led a letter to House Ways and Means Committee leadership emphasizing support for the early renewal of the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) and the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) Acts, commonly known as HOPE/HELP. 
• On April 12, 2024, Rep. Pressley joined Haitian-led activists, organizations, and a directly impacted person in Haiti for a press call urging federal action to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in Haiti.
• On March 27, 2024, Rep. Pressley joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and her colleagues on the Massachusetts congressional delegation in urging the Biden Administration to  expedite visa processing for Haitians , particularly  for relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.
• On March 18, Rep. Pressley, Senator Markey, and the House Haiti Caucus led 67 lawmakers on a letter urging the Biden Administration to extend TPS for Haiti and halt deportations .
• On March 12, 2024, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Cherfilus McCormick and Yvette Clarke  issued a statement  on the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
• On March 6, 2024, Rep. Pressley  issued a statement  on the recent jailbreak and State of Emergency in Haiti.
• On December 8, 2023, Rep. Pressley and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke urged the U.S. Department of State to  withdraw U.S. support for an armed foreign intervention  in Haiti and encourage negotiations for a Haitian-led democratic political transition.
• On December 6, 2022, Rep. Pressley issued a statement  applauding  the Biden Administration’s extension and re-designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.
• On December 1, 2022, Rep. Pressley, Rep. Cori Bush, and Rep. Mondaire Jones led 14 of their colleagues on a  letter  to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging the Department to extend and redesignate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
• In September 2022, Rep. Pressley and Rep. Velázquez led 54 of their colleagues on a letter  calling on the Biden Administration  to immediately halt deportations to Haiti and provide humanitarian parole protections for those seeking asylum. The lawmakers’  letter  followed the Administration’s resumption of deportation flights to Haiti as thousands of Haitian migrants continue to await an opportunity to make an asylum claim at the border. 
• In September 2022, Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues on the House Oversight Committee in  demanding answers  regarding the inhumane treatment of migrants in Del Rio, Texas, by Border Patrol agents on horseback and pushing to Biden Administration to end the ongoing use and weaponization of Title 42.
• On August 17, 2022, Rep. Pressley, along with Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Val Demings, Yvette Clarke, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), called on President Biden to  appoint a new Special Envoy  to Haiti, a position that has remained unfilled since September 2021.
• On July 7, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Andy Levin (MI-09), Val Demings (FL-10) and Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09)  released a statement  marking the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
• On May 31, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Reverend Dieufort Fleurissaint, chair of Haitian Americans United,  published an op-ed in the Bay State Banner  in which they called on the Biden administration to withdraw support for de facto ruler of Haiti, Ariel Henry, and instead support an inclusive, civil society-led process to restore stability and democracy on the island. 
• In April 2022, she joined her colleagues at a  press conference  reaffirming her support for President Biden’s decision to end Title 42. Full video of her remarks at the press conference is available  here . Rep. Pressley  applauded  the Biden Administration’s end of Title 42 in a statement in April 2022.
• On May 26, 2022, Rep. Pressley, along with with Representatives Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Andy Levin (MI-09), Jim McGovern (MA-02), and Frederica Wilson (FL-24), led a letter to United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Power urging her to act to  ensure food security  in Haiti.
• On March 16, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Rep. Mondaire Jones called on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky to fully  end Title 42, cease deportations  of people to Haiti and affirm their legal and fundamental human right to seek asylum.
• On February 16, 2022, Rep. Pressley  joined  Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01), Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and 100 House and Senate colleagues in urging President Biden to reverse inhumane immigration policies – such as Title 42, originally introduced under the Trump Administration – that continue to disproportionately harm Black migrants.
• On February 14, 2022, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), alongside Representatives Judy Chu (CA-27) and Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), led 33 other House Democrats on a letter to Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  demanding answers  about the agency’s justification for treating asylum seekers as a unique public health threat, how these expulsions are being coordinated, how asylum seekers being returned to dangerous situations are being cared for, and more.
• On February 14, 2022, Reps. Pressley, Judy Chu (CA-27), and Nydia Velázquez (NY-07) led 33 other House Democrats on a letter to CDC Director Walensky  demanding answers  about the agency’s justification for treating asylum seekers as a unique public health threat, how these expulsions are being coordinated, how asylum seekers being returned to dangerous situations are being cared for, and more. Days later, Rep. Pressley once again  called  on the Biden Administration to reverse the Title 42 Order and other anti-Black immigration policies.
• On January 12, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Andy Levin (MI-09), and Val Demings (FL-10)  released a statement on the 12-year anniversary of the catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010.
• On November 21, 2021, Rep. Pressley and Senator Elizabeth Warren led the Massachusetts congressional delegation on a  letter to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)  calling on them to coordinate with the government agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to assist newly arrived families from Haiti. 
• On October 18, 2021, Rep. Pressley, and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Val Demings (FL-10), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), and Andy Levin (MI-09)  issued a statement  following the kidnapping of American and Canadian missionaries in Haiti.
• On October 18, 2021, Rep. Pressley  issued a statement  on the civil rights complaint filed by Haitian families demanding a federal investigation into the heinous actions perpetrated by federal officials at the border.
• On October 22, 2021, Rep. Pressley, along with Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Reps. Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), sent a  letter  to Troy A. Miller, the Acting Administrator of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), demanding a briefing and answers regarding  press reports  of the inhumane treatment of migrants in Del Rio, Texas, by Border Patrol agents on horseback. 
• On September 17, 2021, Rep. Pressley and Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07) led 52 of their colleagues calling on the Biden Administration to immediately  halt deportations to Haiti and take urgent action  to address the concerns of the Haitian Diaspora after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti.
• On August 14, 2021, Rep. Pressley Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Andy Levin (MI-09) and Val Demings (FL-10) and Mondaire Jones (NY-17)  released a statement  regarding the recent earthquake in Haiti.
• On July 14, 2021, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Andy Levin (MI-09) and Val Demings (FL-10) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calling on him to take a series of steps to  support the Haitian diaspora  amid ongoing political turmoil in Haiti.
• In July 2021, the Reps. Pressley, Clarke, Demings and Levin  issued a statement  condemning the assassination of President Moïse and calling for swift and decisive action to bring political stability and peace to Haiti and the Haitian people.
• In May 2021, on Haitian Flag Day, Reps. Pressley, Levin, Clarke and Demings announced the formation of the  House Haiti Caucus , a Congressional caucus dedicated to pursuing a just foreign policy that puts the needs and aspirations of the Haitian people first.

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With fear and hope, Haiti warily welcomes new governing council as gang-ravaged country seeks peace

Ariel Henry resigned Thursday as prime minister of Haiti, leaving the way clear for a new government to be formed in the Caribbean country, which has been wracked by gang violence. (April 25) (AP/ Pierre Luxama)

Haiti opened a new political chapter Thursday with the installation of a transitional council tasked to pick a new prime minister and prepare for eventual presidential elections, in hopes of quelling spiraling gang violence that has killed thousands in the Caribbean country. Ariel Henry, the prime minister who had been locked out of the country for the past couple of months due to the violence, cleared the way for the transition by presenting his resignation in a letter signed in Los Angeles. (AP video: Pierre Luxama)

Michel Patrick Boisvert, who was named interim prime minister by the cabinet of outgoing Prime Minister Ariel Henry, toasts during the swearing-in ceremony of the transitional council tasked with selecting Haiti’s new prime minister and cabinet, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Boisvert was previously the economy and finance minister. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

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Michel Patrick Boisvert, center, who was named interim Prime Minister by the remaining cabinet of outgoing Prime Minister Ariel Henry, attends the swearing-in ceremony of the transitional council tasked with selecting Haiti’s new prime minister and cabinet, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Boisvert was previously the economy and finance minister. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Soldiers deploy outside the Prime Minister’s office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. A transitional council tasked with selecting a new prime minister and cabinet is expected to be sworn-in on Thursday. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

FILE - Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry, right, attends a working session at the Canada-CARICOM Summit in Ottawa, Ontario, Oct. 18, 2023. Henry resigned on April 25, 2024, leaving the way clear for a new government to be formed in the Caribbean country. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

Michel Patrick Boisvert, who was named interim prime minister by the cabinet of outgoing Prime Minister Ariel Henry, attends the swearing-in ceremony of the transitional council tasked with selecting Haiti’s new prime minister and cabinet, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Boisvert was previously the economy and finance minister. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Soldiers deploy outside the Prime Minister’s office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in preparation for the swearing-in of a transitional council tasked with selecting a new prime minister and cabinet, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

IDENTIFIES TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL MEMBERS - Ex-senator Louis Gerald Gilles, from left to right, pastor Frinel Joseph, barrister Emmanuel Vertilaire, businessman Laurent Saint-Cyr, interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, Judge Jean Joseph Lebrun, who is not a member of the council, former senate president Edgard Leblanc, Regine Abraham, former central bank governor Fritz Alphonse Jean, former diplomat Leslie Voltaire and former ambassador to the Dominican Republic Smith Augustin, pose for a group photo during an installation ceremony, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Police stand guard outside the Prime Minister’s office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. A transitional council tasked with selecting a new prime minister and cabinet is expected to be sworn in on Thursday. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert speaks during the swearing-in ceremony of the transitional council tasked with selecting a new prime minister and cabinet, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Boisvert was previously the economy and finance minister. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Michel Patrick Boisvert, center, who was named interim prime minister by the cabinet of outgoing Prime Minister Ariel Henry, smiles after posing with members of a transitional council tasked with selecting Haiti’s new prime minister and cabinet, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. Boisvert was previously the economy and finance minister. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Police stand guard outside the office of the prime minister in preparation for the swearing-in of a transitional council tasked with selecting a new prime minister and cabinet, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Police escort musicians arriving for the swearing-in ceremony of a transitional council tasked with selecting a new prime minister and cabinet at the Prime Minister’s office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti opened a new political chapter Thursday with the installation of a transitional council tasked to pick a new prime minister and prepare for eventual presidential elections, in hopes of quelling spiraling gang violence that has killed thousands in the Caribbean country.

Ariel Henry, the prime minister who had been locked out of the country for the past couple of months due to the violence, cleared the way for the transition by presenting his resignation in a letter signed in Los Angeles.

The document was released Thursday in Haiti on the same day as the new transitional council was sworn in to choose a new prime minister and Cabinet. Henry’s outgoing Cabinet chose Economy and Finance Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert as interim prime minister in the meantime. It was not immediately clear when the transitional council would name its own choice for interim prime minister.

The council was officially sworn in at the National Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince early Thursday as the pop of sporadic gunfire erupted nearby, prompting some officials to look around the room. The council had been urged to seek a safer venue because gangs have launched daily attacks in the area .

Addressing a crowded and sweaty room in the prime minister’s office hours later in Pétion-Ville, Boisvert said that Haiti’s crisis had gone on too long and that the country now found itself at a crossroads. The members of the transitional council stood behind him, and before him, the country’s top police and military officials as well as ambassadors and well-known politicians.

“After long months of debate ... a solution has been found,” Boisvert said. “Today is an important day in the life of our dear republic.”

He called the transitional council a “Haitian solution” and directing his remarks toward them, Boisvert wished them success, adding, “You are to lead the country to peace, to economic and social recovery, to sacred union, to participation.”

After the speeches, the soft clink of glasses echoed in the room as attendees served champagne flutes toasted with a somber “To Haiti.”

The council was installed earlier Thursday, more than a month after Caribbean leaders announced its creation following an emergency meeting to tackle Haiti’s spiraling crisis . Gunfire heard as the council was sworn in at the National Palace prompted worried looks.

The nine-member council, of which seven have voting powers, is also expected to help set the agenda of a new Cabinet. It will also appoint a provisional electoral commission, a requirement before elections can take place, and establish a national security council.

The council’s non-renewable mandate expires Feb. 7, 2026, at which date a new president is scheduled to be sworn in.

The council members are Emmanuel Vertilaire for Petit Desalin, a party led by former senator and presidential candidate Jean-Charles Moïse; Smith Augustin for EDE/RED, a party led by former Prime Minister Claude Joseph; Fritz Alphonse Jean for the Montana Accord, a group of civil society leaders, political parties and others; Leslie Voltaire for Fanmi Lavalas, the party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide; Louis Gérald Gilles for the Dec. 21 coalition that backs former Prime Minister Ariel Henry; Edgard Leblanc Fils for the Jan. 30 Collective, which represents parties including that of former President Michel Martelly; and Laurent Saint-Cyr for the private sector.

The two non-voting seats were awarded to Frinel Joseph, a pastor, and Régine Abraham, a former World Bank and Haitian government official.

Augustin, one of the council’s voting members, said that it was unclear if the council would decide to keep Boisvert on as interim prime minister or choose another. He said it would be discussed in the coming days. “The crisis is unsustainable,” he said.

Abraham, a nonvoting member, recalled the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, explaining that “that violence had a devastating impact.”

Abraham said that gangs now controlled most of Port-au-Prince, tens of thousands of the capital’s residents have been displaced by violence and more than 900 schools in the capital have been forced to close.

“The population of Port-au-Prince has literally been taken hostage,” she said.

Gangs launched coordinated attacks that began on Feb. 29 in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding areas. They burned police stations and hospitals, opened fire on the main international airport that has remained closed since early March and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. Gangs also have severed access to Haiti’s biggest port.

The onslaught began while Prime Minister Henry was on an official visit to Kenya to push for a U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country.

In his resignation letter, Henry said Haiti would be reborn. “We served the nation in difficult times,” he wrote. “I sympathize with the losses and suffering endured by our compatriots during this period.”

He remains locked out of Haiti.

“Port-au-Prince is now almost completely sealed off because of air, sea and land blockades,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s director, said earlier this week.

The international community has urged the council to prioritize Haiti’s widespread insecurity. Even before the attacks began, gangs already controlled 80% of Port-au-Prince. More than 2,500 people were killed or injured from January to March, up by more than 50% compared with the same period last year, according to a recent U.N. report.

“It is impossible to overstate the increase in gang activity across Port-au-Prince and beyond, the deterioration of the human rights situation and the deepening of the humanitarian crisis,” María Isabel Salvador, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, said at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday.

On Thursday, some Haitians said they didn’t know that the country had a new prime minister and a transitional council in place. Others warily celebrated the new leadership.

“We don’t ask for much. We just want to move about freely,” said Guismet Obaubourg, owner of a dusty convenience story who lamented that his merchandise has been stuck at the port for two months.

As for Boisvert: “I don’t know him personally, but as long as he does what he’s supposed to do, provide security to the country, that’s all that matters.”

In attendance at Boisvert’s swearing in Thursday was Dennis Hankins, the newly installed U.S. ambassador. He said Thursday’s events were an important step for Haiti.

“In crisis, the Haitians are able to do tremendous things, so we’re here to help them,” Hankins said. “We won’t be the solution, but hopefully we will be part of helping those finding the solution.”

As part of that, he said the U.S. government was working to enforce export controls on weapons, many of which have found their way to Haiti, fueling the violence.

“The fact that many of the arms that come here are from the United States is indisputable and that has a direct impact,” Hankins said. “It is something we recognize is a contributing factor to instability.”

Nearly 100,000 people have fled the capital in search of safer cities and towns since the attacks began. Tens of thousands of others left homeless after gangs torched their homes are now living in crowded, makeshift shelters across Port-au-Prince that only have one or two toilets for hundreds of residents.

At the United Nations Thursday, World Food Program Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau said Haiti is suffering from a security, political and humanitarian crisis that is causing acute food insecurity for some 5 million people, or about half the population. The U.N. defines that as “when a person’s inability to consume adequate food puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger.”

“The situation is dramatic,” Skau told reporters. “Devastating crisis, a massive humanitarian impact, the worst humanitarian situation in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake .”

Rachel Pierre, a 39-year-old mother of four children, living in one of the capital’s makeshift shelters, said, “Although I’m physically here, it feels like I’m dead.”

“There is no food or water. Sometimes I have nothing to give the kids,” she said as her 14-month-old suckled on her deflated breast.

Many Haitians are angry and exhausted at what their lives have become and blame gangs for their situation.

“They’re the ones who sent us here,” said Chesnel Joseph, a 46-year-old math teacher whose school closed because of the violence and who has become the shelter’s informal director. “They mistreat us. They kill us. They burn our homes.”

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How 360,000 Haitians Wound Up Living in Empty Lots and Crowded Schools

In a worsening humanitarian crisis, Haitians have been forced to flee their homes in the face of gang onslaughts, but the international response has failed to keep up.

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By Frances Robles

Reporting from Florida

Hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti are on the run from rampant gang violence and have abandoned their homes, a worsening humanitarian crisis that the United Nations describes as “cataclysmic.”

Masses of homeless families dodging gang members who burned down their houses and killed their neighbors have taken over dozens of schools, churches and even government buildings. Many places have no running water, flushing toilets or garbage pickup.

The lucky ones are sleeping on a friend’s sofa.

“There are kids at my camp who have no parents,” said Agenithe Jean, 39, who left her home in the Carrefour Feuilles neighborhood of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, in August for an improvised camp in an empty lot about six miles away. “We need latrines. We need somewhere to go.”

At least 360,000 people — more than half of them in the capital or surrounding neighborhoods — have fled their homes in Haiti over the past year, and that number of internally displaced people is expected in the coming months to surpass 400,000, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration .

Hundreds are unaccompanied children, including orphans and others separated from their parents in the chaos.

As hurricane season nears, humanitarian groups and Haiti’s disaster response office are racing to figure out how to address the swelling crowds living in improvised shelters in a capital overrun by gangs with a barely functioning national government.

About 90,000 people are living in those sites, and roughly the same number deserted Port-au-Prince in March, according to the United Nations and aid groups, many for other parts of Haiti, an exodus straining safer cities ill-prepared for an increased demand on water, food and schools.

A United Nations drive to raise $674 million to address the growing list of basic needs in Haiti has raised just 16 percent of the goal. The United States provided $69.5 million of the $107 million raised so far.

The competition for attention and resources can be eclipsed by crises around the world, including in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, aid groups said. The response has paled in comparison to the massive international effort following Haiti’s cataclysmic 2010 earthquake, when countries and aid organizations sent billions in aid.

“All of us are going pretty much after the same donors,” said Abdoulaye Sawadogo, head of the U.N. office in charge of humanitarian assistance in Haiti.

The Haitian government agency whose job it is to help refugees normally focuses on natural disasters, not a disaster caused by widespread gang violence.

“You can track the cyclone. After an earthquake, you can find shelter,” said Emmanuel Pierre, the operations director for the Directorate for Civil Protection, Haiti’s emergency management agency. “Now the problem is a social hazard.”

In the three years since the assassination of the Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, Haiti’s gangs have expanded their territory and increased their violence.

Gang leaders achieved a main goal — the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry — and now claim they want to end poverty as well as a corrupt system run by elites. But they also want amnesty for their crimes and to prevent an international security force led by Kenya from deploying.

In the first three months of this year, about 2,500 people were killed or injured as a result of gang violence — a 53 percent increase compared to the previous three months, according to the United Nations .

Things took a dire turn in late February, when, in a quest to oust the prime minister, rival gangs joined forces to attack police stations, jails and the airport. Entire Port-au-Prince neighborhoods emptied out as gangs took over.

People who found safe spaces were repeatedly driven out as time and again they found themselves in mortal peril.

In some ways, Ms. Jean got lucky that August day when a gang took over her Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood amid a reign of gunfire. When she raced toward her rented house in search of her family, running past bodies on the ground and injured people covered in blood, she stumbled into her four children. All five got out with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Since that August day, Ms. Jean has lived in an improvised tent camp, which she shares with a few dozen others, in the Croix Desprez neighborhood. Unable to work because conditions are too dangerous, but with her children safe with relatives in the countryside, she showers at friends’ houses and has received cash and food from humanitarian groups.

“I don’t think I can ever go back,” she said. “In Port-au-Prince, nowhere is safe.”

The U.N.’s International Office for Migration started tracking the internally displaced in November and found that about 70 percent were staying with friends or relatives. Now 60 percent are in one of 86 homeless sites, as people run out of safe places to take cover, said Daniele Febei, the head of emergency operations for the U.N.’s migration office in Haiti.

More than 180,000 — about half the homeless — are children, he said. Nearly three dozen schools in the Port-au-Prince area were forced to close to make room for the displaced. The gangs forced people from their homes so they could use the neighborhoods as bases of operations to stash kidnapping victims, he said.

About half the homeless are receiving services, U.N. agencies said, though the United Nations Children’s Fund, which focuses on the needs of children in developing countries, has suspended water delivery on some days because it was too dangerous to traverse the streets.

While millions of liters of water have been delivered, about 30,000 people living in homeless sites are not getting any, mainly because of a lack of financing, UNICEF said. Instead, they have to buy small bags and buckets of often unhealthy water.

“The response has not been the best,” Mr. Febei said, noting that the violence drove out many nonprofit aid organizations. “Let’s say that 40 percent of sites have a system to collect waste. What does that mean? Sixty percent doesn’t.”

Much of the assistance being provided by organizations, including hundreds of thousands of meals from the World Food Program, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has allocated about $171 million in humanitarian aid since October, including an allocation of $58 million in March.

“That’s not enough,” said Marcia Wong, a top official at the agency’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. “Obviously.”

“A certain percentage of people in Haiti are not being reached the way they deserve to be,” she added. “The scale of services and response is not what it needs to be.”

Many organizations are shifting gears toward providing cash payments to heads of households and those who host the displaced, as it becomes harder to provide direct services, particularly to those on the move.

“So many people are living in different small tents,” said Laurent Uwumuremyi, Haiti director for Mercy Corps, a U.S.-financed aid organization, which helped The New York Times arrange telephone interviews with internal refugees. “Looking at the current situation and how it has been evolving since the end of February, there is no hope that the situation is going to change soon.”

Many people have scattered throughout the country to rural communities they originally hailed from, he said.

The strain is being felt in southern cities where buses full of Port-au-Prince residents arrive regularly. In February and March, nearly 40,000 people arrived in Haiti’s South Department, which includes Les Cayes and Jacmel, said Pierre Marie Boutin, the civil protection agency’s representative in Les Cayes.

“They came in public transport with all their belongings, like everything you find in a house — beds, mattresses, household furniture,” Mr. Boutin said, adding that the agency’s offices and storage depots have all been looted by gangs.

“In one month it will be hurricane season, and we are not ready,” he said. “In the event of a catastrophe, we are at zero. We have nothing, and we will really be in deep trouble.”

Yvon Latigue, 42, who has two daughters, left Carrefour-Feuilles late last year when gangs set a neighbor’s house on fire, which also burned down his home.

“We didn’t have time to save anything,” he said. “We were saving our lives.”

The family of four slept in a church at first and then stayed with in-laws in Mirebalais, a city about 40 miles north of the capital, but the imposition caused a strain so they returned to Port-au-Prince. They are making do in a makeshift tent where their house once stood.

The children cannot attend their local school because gang violence led it to close.

“One of them, when she talks to me, she says: ‘Daddy, I’m scared. I’m scared, because of all of this shooting,’” he said. “And the other one, sometimes she asks me, ‘Daddy, when am I going back to school?’”

Tuesday, he tells her.

“After a few days, she’ll say, ‘Daddy, is it Tuesday yet?’ I say no,” Mr. Latigue said. “I don’t have another choice. I have to lie to her.”

Andre Paultre contributed reporting from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and David C. Adams from Miami.

An earlier version of this article misidentified the name of a United Nations agency. The agency is the International Organization for Migration, not the International Office for Migration.

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Frances Robles is a Times investigative reporter covering the United States and Latin America. She has been a journalist for more than 30 years. More about Frances Robles