Haiti jailbreak: What we know about armed violence that saw thousands of prisoners freed by gangs

Armed gang members stormed two prisons in Haiti over the weekend, freeing thousands of inmates and sparking widespread violence and chaos.

The country declared a 72-hour state of emergency on Sunday, according to the Associated Press, with officials saying they would track down the escaped prisoners by any means necessary.

“The police were ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders,” acting prime minister Patrick Boivert said in a statement.

Where did it take place?

Nearly all the inmates in Haiti’s national penitentiary — which housed about 4,000 people — reportedly escaped Saturday, and three people were found fatally shot outside the prison. The other Port-au-Prince prison, which held 1,400 people, was also taken over.

Several prisoners and prison staff members were injured in the two raids, Haitian government officials said in a statement.

“Our police officers, on the scene of several operations facing the rampages of heavily armed criminals wanting at all costs to free people in custody, particularly for kidnapping, murder and other serious offenses and not hesitating to execute civilians, burning and looting public and private property, thanks to various collusions, did not succeed in preventing the bandits from bringing out a large number of prisoners,” the statement read.

Which prisoners did not flee?

Only a small portion of inmates did not flee. Among them were reportedly the 18 Colombian mercenaries accused of orchestrating the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Their attorney, Samuel Madistin, told the New York Times they remained in the prison out of fear for their lives.

Since Mr Moïse was killed, Haiti has faced widespread violence at the hands of gangs. According to a UN report, there were nearly 5,000 homicides in 2023 — twice as many as the prior year.

What caused the violence and who is behind it?

The heightened upheaval this week comes after Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who took over after Mr Moïse’s assassination, travelled to Kenya to push forward a United Nations deal that would bring 1,000 Kenyan police officers to Haiti to help restore security.

Gunfire could reportedly be heard all over Port-au-Prince this weekend, and internet service outages were widespread.

Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer and powerful gang leader known as Barbecue, has claimed responsibility for the wave of violence and has said the goal is to overthrow Haiti’s already weakened government.

“With our guns and with the Haitian people, we will free the country,” Mr Chérizier reportedly said in a video message Thursday.