Latest news with #PortauPrince
Fox News
2 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Blackwater founder Erik Prince teams with Haitian government to fight gang violence
Private military contractor Erik Prince, the former Navy SEAL and founder of Blackwater Worldwide, is working with the Haitian government to fight the gangs terrorizing the Caribbean nation. Prince's role will be to advise the Haitian government and its undermanned and underequipped police force on how to take on the street gangs amid record levels of violence in which thousands of people have been killed, injured and abducted. "That goes beyond just the security question and extends to restoring essential government services, but obviously everything is founded on restoring security," the source said. Armed groups have taken over prisons, hospitals and swaths of territory, forcing people to flee their homes. In April 2024, thousands fled the capital of Port-au-Prince for rural regions because of escalating gang violence there. The Pentagon deferred questions by Fox News Digital to the Haitian government, which has also been contacted by Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital also reached out to Prince. While Blackwater no longer exists, Prince owns various private military entities, the New York Times reported. The State Department told Fox News Digital that the United States is not involved in any private security contract negotiations regarding Haiti and that Prince is not being paid by the U.S. government. Prince has been speaking with the Haitian government on how to fight well-armed gangs like Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif, which have been designated by the State Department as foreign terrorist organizations, and restore security and stability, the source said. A special task force to take on the gangs has been set up. That group will lead the effort with support from international partners and experts. So far, the task force has used drones. "While it may be true that no leaders have been taken out yet, a significant number of senior gang members have been killed or wounded," the source said. "For the first time, the police are starting to put real pressure on them, and their capabilities are growing. So we hope to see an improvement of the situation over the coming months." The key is to do it in a way that is precise and mitigates risks to civilians, the source added. Security experts told the New York Times that Prince has also been scouting to hire Haitian-American military veterans to send to Port-au-Prince. He is expected to send up to 150 mercenaries to Haiti over the summer and recently shipped a large cache of weapons to the country, two experts told the newspaper. Military contractors in Haiti have a checkered history. In 2021, Colombian mercenaries hired by an American security firm were accused of taking part in the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse. Rod Joseph, a Haitian-American Army veteran who owns a Florida-based security officer training company, told the New York Times that he had been in talks with Prince to help supply personnel for his contract since late last year.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
A Desperate Haiti Turns to Erik Prince, Trump Ally, in Fight Against Gangs
Erik Prince, a private military contractor and prominent supporter of President Trump, is working with Haiti's government to conduct lethal operations against gangs that are terrorizing the nation and threatening to take over its capital. Mr. Prince, the founder of Blackwater Worldwide, signed a contract to take on the criminal groups that have been killing civilians and seizing control of vast areas of territory, according to senior Haitian and American government officials and several other security experts familiar with Mr. Prince's work in Haiti. Haiti's government has hired American contractors, including Mr. Prince, in recent months to work on a secret task force to deploy drones meant to kill gang members, security experts said. Mr. Prince's team has been operating the drones since March, but the authorities have yet to announce the death or capture of a single high-value target. Security experts said Mr. Prince has also been scouting Haitian American military veterans to hire to send to Port-au-Prince and is expected to send up to 150 mercenaries to Haiti over the summer. He recently shipped a large cache of weapons to the country, two experts said. The Haitian government is awaiting the arrival of arms shipments and more personnel to step up its fight against the gangs. American officials said they were aware of Mr. Prince's work with Haiti's government. But the full terms of the Haitian government's arrangement with Mr. Prince, including how much it is paying him, are unknown. This article is based on interviews with a dozen people who follow Haiti closely. All but one spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive security matters publicly. The State Department, which has provided millions of dollars in funding to equip and train Haiti's National Police, said it is not paying Mr. Prince or his company for any work in Haiti. Mr. Prince declined to comment for this article. Blackwater no longer exists, but Mr. Prince owns other private military entities. The involvement of civilian contractors like Mr. Prince, a Trump donor who has a long and checkered history in the private security industry, marks a pivotal moment in Haiti. Its crisis has deepened since its last president was assassinated in 2021, and the government now appears willing to take desperate measures to secure control. Armed groups escalated the violence last year by uniting and taking over prisons, burning down police stations and attacking hospitals. About 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes and hundreds of thousands are living in shelters. Gangs have captured so much territory in recent months that U.N. officials have warned that the capital is in danger of falling under complete criminal control. The situation is dire enough that officials and civilians alike say they are eager for any overseas help, particularly after a $600 million international police mission started by the Biden administration and largely staffed by Kenyan police officers failed to receive adequate international personnel and money. With Haiti's undermanned and underequipped police force struggling to contain the gangs, the government is turning to private military contractors equipped with high-powered weapons, helicopters and sophisticated surveillance and attack drones to take on the well-armed gangs. At least one other American security company is working in Haiti, though details of its role are secret. Since drone attacks targeting gangs started in March, they have killed more than 200 people, according to Pierre Esperance, who runs a leading human rights organization in Port-au-Prince. After the U.S. occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq ended, security firms like those owned by Mr. Prince started seeing big streams of revenues dry up. Private military contractors are looking for new opportunities, and they see possibilities in Latin America. Before presidential elections in Ecuador this year, Mr. Prince toured the country with local police and promised to help security forces. The country has faced a wave of violence unleashed by gangs. Ecuadorean officials denied that they had signed any security deal with Mr. Prince. A person close to Mr. Prince said he hopes to expand the scope of his work in Haiti to include help with customs, transport, revenue collection and other government services that need to be restored for the country to stabilize. Rampant government corruption is a key reason Haiti's finances are in shambles. The Haitian prime minister's office and a presidential council, which was formed to run the country until presidential elections can be held, did not respond to several requests for comment. Mr. Prince, whose sister Betsy DeVos was Secretary of Education during Mr. Trump's first term, donated more than $250,000 to help elect Mr. Trump in 2016, according to campaign finance records. He was often cited as an informal 'adviser' to Mr. Trump's first transition to office, a description he denied. Days before Mr. Trump took office in 2017, the United Arab Emirates organized a meeting between Mr. Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as part of an effort to set up a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and the incoming president, a meeting that later came under scrutiny. The House Intelligence Committee made a criminal referral to the Justice Department about Mr. Prince, saying he lied about the circumstances of the meeting, but no charges were ever filed. Mr. Prince has a decades-long history of military interventions overseas, some of which ended badly. Blackwater faced legal problems over its work for the U.S. military in places like Iraq, including an episode in 2007 in which its employees killed 17 civilians in Baghdad. (President Trump pardoned four Blackwater guards in 2020.) In 2011, Mr. Prince helped recruit and train an army of Colombian mercenaries for the United Arab Emirates to use in conflicts around the Middle East. In 2017, he proposed a plan to use contractors to take over Afghanistan. In 2020, The New York Times revealed that he had recruited former spies to help conservative activists infiltrate liberal groups in the United States. A year later, the United Nations accused him of violating an arms embargo in Libya, which he denied. 'My name has become click bait for people who like to weave conspiracy theories together,' Mr. Prince said in a 2021 interview with The Times. 'And if they throw my name in, it always attracts attention. And it's pretty damn sickening.' Haiti's experience with private military contractors goes back decades. When U.S. forces returned former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in 1994 after he was ousted in a bloody military coup, he was accompanied by a private security team from the San Francisco-based Steele Foundation. In recent years, military contractors in Haiti have had a more tainted record. Colombian mercenaries hired by an American security firm were accused of taking part in the 2021 assassination of the last elected president, Jovenel Moïse. Rod Joseph, a Haitian American U.S. Army veteran who owns a Florida-based security officer training company, said he had been in talks with Mr. Prince to help supply personnel for his contract since late last year. Mr. Joseph, who trained Haitian police on the use of surveillance drones, said Mr. Prince gave him the impression that his plans were under the auspices of the U.S. government but then shifted to be directly under the purview of the Haitian government. He said Mr. Prince told him that he planned to send private soldiers from El Salvador to Haiti along with three helicopters to engage in attacks against the gangs. Mr. Joseph said he was uncomfortable with the idea of contractors working directly with the Haitian government, without any American oversight. 'We should be very worried, because if he's from the U.S. government, at least he can have the semblance of having to answer to Congress,' he said. 'If it's him, his contract, he doesn't owe anybody an explanation.' 'It's just another payday,' he added. Mr. Prince texted him a few days ago, Mr. Joseph said, seeking a list of Haitian American veterans to send to Haiti, but he declined to provide names unless Mr. Prince could provide more precise details of their mission and would allow Mr. Joseph to lead them. U.S. military contractors doing defense work overseas are required to obtain a license from the State Department, but those licenses are not public record. Mr. Prince has been trying to expand his portfolio and has traveled overseas in search of new business, said Sean McFate, a professor at the National Defense University and author of 'The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order.' Mr. Prince is viewed skeptically by other members of the private military industry, Mr. McFate said, because of his showy nature and the negative publicity he generates for a security industry that prides itself on a 'sense of professionalism.' 'It's always worth noting where Prince is going, because it's sort of a barometer of where he thinks Trump world might end up, and he wants to make a buck from it,' Mr. McFate said. But experts stress that Haitians are desperate for solutions — regardless of where they come from. 'The doors are open. All possibilities must be on the table,' Haiti's Minister of Economy and Finance, Alfred Métellus, told Le Nouvelliste, a Haitian newspaper, last month. 'We are looking for all Haitians, all foreigners who have expertise in this field and who want to support us, want to support the police and the army to unblock the situation.' Mr. Joseph said he worried that outsourcing the work of fighting gangs to private military contractors would not do anything to improve the skills of the Haitian police and military. 'When you do it this way, it's trouble,' he said. 'Every time you parachute knowledge in and parachute out, the locals will always be in need of that knowledge. If you don't have knowledge of security, you will just have a bunch of dead people.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Haitians with HIV defy stigma as they publicly denounce USAID cuts and dwindling medication
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A video showing dozens of people marching toward the office of Haiti's prime minister elicited gasps from some viewers as it circulated recently on social media. The protesters, who were HIV positive, did not conceal their faces — a rare occurrence in a country where the virus is still heavily stigmatized. 'Call the minister of health! We are dying!' the group chanted. The protesters risked being shunned by society to warn that Haiti is running out of HIV medication just months after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump slashed more than 90% of USAID's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall aid across the globe. At a hospital near the northern city of Cap-Haitien, Dr. Eugene Maklin said he struggles to share that reality with his more than 550 HIV patients. 'It's hard to explain to them, to tell them that they're not going to find medication,' he said. 'It's like a suicide.' 'We can't stay silent' More than 150,000 people in Haiti have HIV or AIDS, according to official estimates, although nonprofits believe the number is much higher. David Jeune, a 46-year-old hospital community worker, is among them. He became infected 19 years ago after having unprotected sex. 'I was scared to let people know because they would point their finger at you, saying you are infecting others with AIDS,' he said. His fear was so great that he didn't tell anyone, not even his mother. But that fear dissipated with the support Jeune said he received from nonprofits. His confidence grew to the point where he participated in Monday's protest. 'I hope Trump will change his mind,' he said, noting that his medication will run out in November. 'Let the poor people get the medication they need.' Patrick Jean Noël, a representative of Haiti's Federation of Associations of HIV, said that at least five clinics, including one that served 2,500 patients, were forced to close after the USAID funding cuts. 'We can't stay silent,' he said. 'More people need to come out.' But most people with HIV in Haiti are reluctant to do so, said Dr. Sabine Lustin, executive director of the Haiti-based nonprofit Promoters of Zero AIDS Goal. The stigma is so strong that many patients are reluctant to pick up their medication in person. Instead, it is sent via packages wrapped as gifts to not arouse suspicion, Lustin said. Lustin's organization, which helps some 2,000 people across Haiti, receives funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While their funding hasn't been cut, she said that shortly after Trump was sworn in, the agency banned prevention activities because they targeted a group that is not a priority. By that, Lustin said she understood they were referring to gay men. That means the organization can no longer distribute up to 200,000 free condoms a year or educate people about the disease. 'You risk an increase in infections,' she said. 'You have a young population who is sexually active who can't receive the prevention message and don't have access to condoms.' 'We only have medication until July' On a recent sunny morning, a chorus of voices drowned out the din of traffic in Haiti's capital, growing louder as protesters with HIV marched defiantly toward the office of Haiti's prime minister. 'We are here to tell the government that we exist, and we are people like any other person,' one woman told reporters. Another marching alongside her said, 'Without medication, we are dying. This needs to change.' Three days after Monday's protest, the leader of Haiti's transitional presidential council, Louis Gérald Gilles, announced that he had met with activists and would try to secure funding. Meanwhile, nonprofit organizations across Haiti are fretting. 'I don't know what we're going to do,' said Marie Denis-Luque, founder and executive director of CHOAIDS, a nonprofit that cares for Haitian orphans with HIV/AIDS. 'We only have medication until July.' Her voice broke as she described her frantic search for donations for the orphans, who are cared for by HIV-positive women in Cap-Haitien after gang violence forced them to leave Port-au-Prince. Denis-Luque said she has long advocated for the orphans' visibility. 'We can't keep hiding these children. They are part of society,' she said, adding that she smiled when she saw the video of Monday's protest. 'I was like, whoa, things have changed tremendously. The stigma is real, but I think what I saw … was very encouraging to me. They can't be silenced.' A dangerous combination Experts say Haiti could see a rise in HIV infections because medications are dwindling at a time that gang violence and poverty are surging. Dr. Alain Casseus, infectious disease division chief at Zamni Lasante, the largest non-governmental healthcare provider in Haiti, said they expected to see a surge in patients given the funding cuts, but that hasn't happened because traveling by land in Haiti is dangerous since violent gangs control main roads and randomly open fire on vehicles. He warned that abruptly stopping medication is dangerous, especially because many Haitians do not have access or cannot afford nutritious food to strengthen their immune system. 'It wouldn't take long, especially given the situation in Haiti, to enter a very bad phase,' he said of HIV infections. And even if some funding becomes available, a lapse in medication could cause resistance to it, he said. Casseus said gang violence also could accelerate the rates of infection via rapes or physical violence as medication runs out. At the New Hope Hospital run by Maklin in Haiti's northern region, shelves are running empty. He used to receive more than $165,000 a year to help HIV/AIDS patients. But that funding has dried up. 'Those people are going to die,' he said. 'We don't know how or where we're going to get more medication.' The medication controls the infection and allows many to have an average life expectancy. Without it, the virus attacks a person's immune system, and they develop AIDS, the late stage of an HIV infection. Reaction is swift when Dr. Maklin tells his patients that in two months, the hospital won't have any HIV medication left. 'They say, 'No, no, no, no!'' he said. 'They want to keep living.' ___ Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
Associated Press
24-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Haitians with HIV defy stigma as they publicly denounce USAID cuts and dwindling medication
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A video showing dozens of people marching toward the office of Haiti's prime minister elicited gasps from some viewers as it circulated recently on social media. The protesters, who were HIV positive, did not conceal their faces — a rare occurrence in a country where the virus is still heavily stigmatized. 'Call the minister of health! We are dying!' the group chanted. The protesters risked being shunned by society to warn that Haiti is running out of HIV medication just months after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump slashed more than 90% of USAID's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall aid across the globe. At a hospital near the northern city of Cap-Haitien, Dr. Eugene Maklin said he struggles to share that reality with his more than 550 HIV patients. 'It's hard to explain to them, to tell them that they're not going to find medication,' he said. 'It's like a suicide.' 'We can't stay silent' More than 150,000 people in Haiti have HIV or AIDS, according to official estimates, although nonprofits believe the number is much higher. David Jeune, a 46-year-old hospital community worker, is among them. He became infected 19 years ago after having unprotected sex. 'I was scared to let people know because they would point their finger at you, saying you are infecting others with AIDS,' he said. His fear was so great that he didn't tell anyone, not even his mother. But that fear dissipated with the support Jeune said he received from nonprofits. His confidence grew to the point where he participated in Monday's protest. 'I hope Trump will change his mind,' he said, noting that his medication will run out in November. 'Let the poor people get the medication they need.' Patrick Jean Noël, a representative of Haiti's Federation of Associations of HIV, said that at least five clinics, including one that served 2,500 patients, were forced to close after the USAID funding cuts. 'We can't stay silent,' he said. 'More people need to come out.' But most people with HIV in Haiti are reluctant to do so, said Dr. Sabine Lustin, executive director of the Haiti-based nonprofit Promoters of Zero AIDS Goal. The stigma is so strong that many patients are reluctant to pick up their medication in person. Instead, it is sent via packages wrapped as gifts to not arouse suspicion, Lustin said. Lustin's organization, which helps some 2,000 people across Haiti, receives funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While their funding hasn't been cut, she said that shortly after Trump was sworn in, the agency banned prevention activities because they targeted a group that is not a priority. By that, Lustin said she understood they were referring to gay men. That means the organization can no longer distribute up to 200,000 free condoms a year or educate people about the disease. 'You risk an increase in infections,' she said. 'You have a young population who is sexually active who can't receive the prevention message and don't have access to condoms.' 'We only have medication until July' On a recent sunny morning, a chorus of voices drowned out the din of traffic in Haiti's capital, growing louder as protesters with HIV marched defiantly toward the office of Haiti's prime minister. 'We are here to tell the government that we exist, and we are people like any other person,' one woman told reporters. Another marching alongside her said, 'Without medication, we are dying. This needs to change.' Three days after Monday's protest, the leader of Haiti's transitional presidential council, Louis Gérald Gilles, announced that he had met with activists and would try to secure funding. Meanwhile, nonprofit organizations across Haiti are fretting. 'I don't know what we're going to do,' said Marie Denis-Luque, founder and executive director of CHOAIDS, a nonprofit that cares for Haitian orphans with HIV/AIDS. 'We only have medication until July.' Her voice broke as she described her frantic search for donations for the orphans, who are cared for by HIV-positive women in Cap-Haitien after gang violence forced them to leave Port-au-Prince. Denis-Luque said she has long advocated for the orphans' visibility. 'We can't keep hiding these children. They are part of society,' she said, adding that she smiled when she saw the video of Monday's protest. 'I was like, whoa, things have changed tremendously. The stigma is real, but I think what I saw … was very encouraging to me. They can't be silenced.' A dangerous combination Experts say Haiti could see a rise in HIV infections because medications are dwindling at a time that gang violence and poverty are surging. Dr. Alain Casseus, infectious disease division chief at Zamni Lasante, the largest non-governmental healthcare provider in Haiti, said they expected to see a surge in patients given the funding cuts, but that hasn't happened because traveling by land in Haiti is dangerous since violent gangs control main roads and randomly open fire on vehicles. He warned that abruptly stopping medication is dangerous, especially because many Haitians do not have access or cannot afford nutritious food to strengthen their immune system. 'It wouldn't take long, especially given the situation in Haiti, to enter a very bad phase,' he said of HIV infections. And even if some funding becomes available, a lapse in medication could cause resistance to it, he said. Casseus said gang violence also could accelerate the rates of infection via rapes or physical violence as medication runs out. At the New Hope Hospital run by Maklin in Haiti's northern region, shelves are running empty. He used to receive more than $165,000 a year to help HIV/AIDS patients. But that funding has dried up. 'Those people are going to die,' he said. 'We don't know how or where we're going to get more medication.' The medication controls the infection and allows many to have an average life expectancy. Without it, the virus attacks a person's immune system, and they develop AIDS, the late stage of an HIV infection. Reaction is swift when Dr. Maklin tells his patients that in two months, the hospital won't have any HIV medication left. 'They say, 'No, no, no, no!'' he said. 'They want to keep living.' ___ Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
Wall Street Journal
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Haiti's Beleaguered Government Launches Drones Against Gangs
A new front for drone warfare has opened a two-hour flight south of Miami. Haiti's besieged government is using drones strapped with explosives to strike gangs that have turned the nation's capital into a hellscape. The government is relying on lightweight drones carrying rudimentary bombs to reach beyond the 10th of Port-au-Prince it controls. But the hundreds of people killed in those explosions since February don't include any gang leaders, human-rights organizations said.
