logo
Blackwater founder to deploy nearly 200 personnel to Haiti as gang violence soars

Blackwater founder to deploy nearly 200 personnel to Haiti as gang violence soars

Washington Post4 hours ago
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The security firm of former U.S. Navy Seal Erik Prince will soon deploy nearly 200 personnel from various countries to Haiti as part of a one-year deal to quell gang violence there, a person with knowledge of the plans said Thursday.
The deployment by Vectus Global is meant to help the government of Haiti recover vast swaths of territory seized in the past year and now controlled by heavily armed gangs, said the person, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

All 800 National Guard troops officially deployed in DC amid Trump's federal takeover
All 800 National Guard troops officially deployed in DC amid Trump's federal takeover

Yahoo

time21 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

All 800 National Guard troops officially deployed in DC amid Trump's federal takeover

The Pentagon announced on Thursday that all 800 National Guard personnel sent to aid Washington D.C., law enforcement in US President Donald Trump's federal takeover have been deployed, officially starting Trump's second stationing of troops against a state governor's wishes. All 800 National Guard troops who were ordered to the US capital Washington to aid law enforcement personnel by President Donald Trump have now been mobilized, the Pentagon said Thursday. Trump ordered the deployment -- which follows a similar move during protests in Los Angeles in June -- as part of what he billed as a crackdown on crime in Washington, where violent offenses are in fact down. "As of today, all 800 Army and Air National Guardsmen are mobilized... as part of Joint Task Force DC, and they are now here in our capital," Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told journalists. They "will assist the DC Metropolitan Police Department and federal law enforcement partners with monument security, community safety patrols, protecting federal facilities and officers" and traffic control posts, Wilson said. Read moreTrump's federal takeover begins as National Guard arrives in Washington The troops "will remain until law and order has been restored in the District, as determined by the president," she added. The US Army later said the National Guard's initial mission "is to provide a visible presence in key public areas, serving as a visible crime deterrent." "They will not arrest, search, or direct law enforcement," but they "have the authority to temporarily detain individuals to prevent imminent harm," the Army said in a statement. The troops will be equipped with protective gear, it added, saying that weapons would be available if needed but would remain in the armory. Trump announced the National Guard deployment -- along with a federal takeover of the city's police department -- on Monday, vowing "to take our capital back." The overwhelmingly Democratic US capital faces allegations from Republican politicians that it is overrun by crime, plagued by homelessness and financially mismanaged. However, data from Washington police shows significant drops in violent crime between 2023 and 2024, although that was coming off the back of a post-pandemic surge. The deployment of troops in Washington comes after Trump dispatched the National Guard and Marines to quell unrest in Los Angeles, California, that was spurred by immigration enforcement raids. It was the first time since 1965 that a US president deployed the National Guard against the wishes of a state governor. Most National Guard forces answer to state governors and have to be "federalized" to be brought under presidential control, but in Washington these troops already report only to the US president. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Blackwater founder Erik Prince to send hundreds of fighters to strife-torn Haiti
Blackwater founder Erik Prince to send hundreds of fighters to strife-torn Haiti

Yahoo

time29 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Blackwater founder Erik Prince to send hundreds of fighters to strife-torn Haiti

Hundreds of combatants from the US, Europe and El Salvador will reportedly be deployed to Haiti in the coming weeks to battle the country's gangs as part of a mission led by the controversial Blackwater founder and Donald Trump backer Erik Prince. According to Reuters, Prince's new security firm, Vectus Global – which has been operating in the violence-ravaged Caribbean country since March – is preparing to intensify its activities there to help authorities win key roads and territories back from heavily armed criminal groups. 'One key measure of success for me will be when you can drive from Port-au-Prince to [the northern city of] Cap-Haïtien in a thin-skinned [non-armoured] vehicle and not be stopped by gangs,' Prince, who said he had struck a 10-year deal with Haiti's government, told the news agency. Under the agreement, Vectus will reportedly be given a role in Haiti's tax-collection system. Haiti's capital has been largely cut off from the rest of the country since February 2024, when armed groups launched a joint offensive against the government, toppling the prime minister and commandeering virtually the whole city. According to the UN, more than 1,500 people were killed between April and July, mostly in Port-au-Prince. The majority were killed during security force operations and a third in drone strikes, which the government has started using to target armed groups. A source familiar with Vectus's Haiti operations told Reuters its deployment would include snipers, intelligence and communications specialists, helicopters and boats. The use of private military contractors to fight Haitian crime groups has caused alarm among human rights advocates and observers, even if the security situation has become so dire that many Haitians have been calling for some form of foreign intervention. Related: 'The ground shook': drone attacks help Haitian government wrest control of capital from criminal gangs 'People are desperate for solutions, for help, for anything … People are willing to accept things they wouldn't have been willing to accept not that long ago because of the desperation,' said Jake Johnston, the author of Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti. 'I can understand the level of trauma and desperation. But is this really a solution?' Johnston asked, predicting Vectus's operation was unlikely to go well. Johnson called the deployment another example of Haitian problems being 'outsourced' to foreigners instead of strengthening Haitian institutions such as the police. 'What kind of a message does [this use of private contractors] send to … domestic forces that are underresourced and feeling like they are not supported?' Romain Le Cour, the head of the Haiti Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, called the move 'a severe institutional setback' to Haitian police and the UN-backed security force sent there last year. Le Cour believed deploying foreign contractors would 'deepen the strategic isolation' of Haiti's police and the Kenya-led policing mission as they tried to regain control. Prince's group – which uses the slogan 'we don't just advise, we act' – has been working in Haiti since March. According to Reuters, it has been deploying drones in coordination with a taskforce led by the prime minister. '[But] after six months of deployment, gangs continue to hold strategic dominance,' Le Cour pointed out. Solve the daily Crossword

WATCH: National Guard humvees, roughly 30 troops stand guard outside DC's Union Station amid police takeover
WATCH: National Guard humvees, roughly 30 troops stand guard outside DC's Union Station amid police takeover

Fox News

timean hour ago

  • Fox News

WATCH: National Guard humvees, roughly 30 troops stand guard outside DC's Union Station amid police takeover

As National Guard troops ramped up their presence in the nation's capital on Thursday, about seven National Guard Humvees and other military vehicles, and around 25 to 30 troops, stood guard outside D.C.'s Union Station. President Donald Trump's move to federalize parts of the District of Columbia's police force began earlier in the week, but troops from the National Guard scaled up their presence Thursday, with several stationed around the National Mall, at metro stations, at Union Station, near a U.S. Park building in Anacostia, D.C., and other places around the nation's capital. As of Thursday, 800 National Guard members have been mobilized to Washington, D.C., according to the Defense Department. According to Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson, the troops are unarmed and are supporting other federal law enforcement agencies that have been called up to D.C. to quell the violence there. "The scope of support may be adjusted based on the needs of our partners," Wilson said. "This would be very similar to the [Los Angeles] mission, where we can temporarily detain someone and then turn them over to the law enforcement." At Union Station specifically, Fox News Digital counted around 25 to 30 National Guard personnel, all military police, four Humvees and three MATVs early Thursday evening. Fox News Digital only saw riot batons carried by the troops. The other federal law enforcement agencies that the National Guard troops are supporting include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Secret Service. Operations aimed at reducing crime in the nation's capital were initially focused on night patrols, but on Thursday they are going to begin patrolling 24/7. The increased law enforcement presence in D.C. has led to protesters taking the streets, including a handful seen at Union Station Thursday. On Wednesday night, local media reports indicated around 100 protesters in one Northwest Washington, D.C. neighborhood, where police had set up a vehicle checkpoint, came out to challenge the increased police presence.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store