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Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
Gang violence in Haiti has displaced nearly 1.3 million people. It's a new record
The number of Haitians forced to flee their homes by terrorizing armed gangs has now hit nearly 1.3 million, the United Nations International Organization for Migration said Wednesday. The surge is the highest number of people ever displaced by violence in Haiti, and represents a 24% increase since December, according to a recently published Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) report by IOM. Metropolitan Port-au-Prince remains the epicenter of the violence with residents of the Grand Ravine neighborhood on Tuesday joining the ranks of those forced to flee after gunfire erupted. But the latest numbers also show that the gang violence is spreading to other regions of Haiti and inching close to the 1.5 million left homeless by Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake. In the North where fresh attacks in the Central Plateau have forced the closure of the country's modern University Hospital of Mirebalais in April and sent a municipal market up in flames this week, the number of people forced from their homes has grown by nearly 80%, IOM said. 'Behind these numbers are so many individual people whose suffering is immeasurable; children, mothers, the elderly, many of them forced to flee their homes multiple times, often with nothing and now living in conditions that are neither safe nor sustainable,' Amy Pope, IOM's director general, said in a statement. 'We need to act urgently. The strength of the Haitian people is humbling, but resilience cannot be their only refuge. This crisis cannot become the new normal.' READ MORE: As crisis in Haiti worsens, UN council calls meeting to push for international support The violence is disrupting all facets of Haitian life as businesses go up in flames, neighborhoods get overtaken by criminal gangs and Haitians find themselves without access to basic healthcare, schools and drinking water as members of a powerful gang coalition, Viv Ansanm, shutter hospitals and force refugees into schools and makeshift camps after deadly attacks. 'They kill people, they burn homes, they cut off roads,' said Masillon Jean, who serves as mayor of the Kenscoff community. Jean said with the help of the population, security forces were able to recover some of the areas where armed gangs had taken over such as the center of town, where a school and courthouse have reopened. But other areas of the community, located in the hills above Pétion-Ville, continue to be in the grip of gangs, particularly the community of Furcy, where a popular hotel, The Lodge, was burned by gangs along with private homes. Last year, more than 5,600 Haitians died as a result of gang-related violence. This year, the death toll stands at more than 1,600, the U.N. has said. At the same time, the worsening violence is also deepening the humanitarian crisis as more than 5.7 million Haitians struggling to find enough to eat with some facing famine-like conditions. In the rice-growing Artibonite department, where a well-known pastor and members of his congregation were beheaded last month by a self-defense brigade, there are now more than 92,000 people displaced by violence in the community of Petite Rivière alone. In the Central Plateau, where gangs set fire to a municipal market on Sunday, attacks in towns like Mirebalais and Saut-d'Eau have more than doubled the number of people on the run in just a few months, rising from around 68,000 to over 147,000 people. The Center Department also now hosts 85 makeshift displacement sites, IOM said, the sharpest increase in such sights whose overall numbers went from 142 in December to 246. The growing crisis is not only putting an enormous strain on overstretched families, but also on aid agencies, which are facing cuts as Washington pulls back funding to international organizations including the United Nations. Last week, the regional director for the World Food Program warned that despite the country's record hunger and its vulnerability to hurricanes and other natural disasters, its food stocks are dwindling and warehouses sit empty. IOM said in the past month the agency y have assisted over 20,000 people with essential household items such as buckets and cooking utensils, distributed over 3 million liters of clean water and provided basic health services to 6,000 people. Additionally, IOM has reinforced its mental health support, reaching over 8,500 displaced people. But the needs continue to expand, the agency said, issuing an appeal to the international community to scale up support as a humanitarian appeal by the United Nations for $908.6 million for Haiti only garners $75 million so far. 'Without immediate funding and access, millions remain at risk,' the agency said. Echoing the sentiments of Canada's permanent representative to the U.N., Robert Rae, who is hosting a special discussion on Haiti in New York on Wednesday, IOM stressed that while humanitarian assistance is essential, Haiti needs sustainable solutions to address the root causes of displacement, improve access to essential services and create viable alternatives to gang violence for youth. These measures are critical to breaking the cycle of violence and restoring stability, IOM said.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
International Neglect Has Left Haiti Spiraling Toward Total Collapse
'Haiti could face total collapse,' Maria Isabel Salvador, the United Nations special representative to Haiti, said last week. She also said the country was nearing the 'point of no return' and close to 'total chaos.' Officials and analysts struggle with the language to describe the dire situation that Haiti now faces. The country has been in such bad shape for so long that warnings about Haiti's plight can easily be ignored as just more of the same. However, as Salvador warned, the reports from the capital and elsewhere signal that the country is experiencing a new level of conflict in which the degree of state failure and gang control could be far worse than seen previously. Violent gangs control about 85 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are engaged in an offensive to take over the remaining areas that have avoided the worst of the violence up to now. The transitional government is already shutting down operations in the capital and will likely be forced to flee the city. Outside the capital, a coalition of gangs is taking over cities, towns, and rural areas at an increasing pace. Much of the country's healthcare and education infrastructure has collapsed. The University Hospital of Mirebalais, the last remaining major hospital in the country with strong infrastructure, was forced to close as gangs took over the city, released 500 gang members from a local prison and looted the equipment at the hospital. UNICEF says over a million children face the threat of malnutrition in the near future, and the World Food Program reports about half the population is experiencing some form of food insecurity. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. The U.N. mission that is supposed to be stabilizing the situation and improving the country's security is overwhelmed, underfunded and understaffed. Voluntary contributions have only reached about $100 million of the $600 million that is needed to cover this year's Multinational Security Support, or MSS, mission. Only 1,000 of the proposed 2,500 foreign police have arrived in the country. As I wrote at the outset of the mission in late 2023, the international community 'authorized a mission that is clearly too small to succeed at the current proposed levels.' The numbers should have been closer to 15,000 at a minimum, but the U.N. simply could not reach an agreement. The challenges in Haiti aren't in any way a criticism of the actions of the Kenya-led police mission in the country. There simply aren't enough of them and they don't have the funding to succeed. The international community has set them up for failure, which is another reason that more countries have avoided contributing personnel. The United States, rather than offering to help, has announced that it will cut funding for Haiti. At the U.N., the U.S. is demanding other countries contribute more even as the U.S. reduces its financial support for the MSS and other U.N. programs that are helping Haiti's security and humanitarian situation. Combined with cuts in U.S. foreign assistance and the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development, it means the funds available for Haiti have been suddenly and drastically reduced. The loss of the U.S. assistance and the surge of the gangs is not a coincidental combination. Last week, the Miami Herald reported that the Trump administration plans to designate Haiti's gangs as terrorist groups, as it has done for Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, El Salvador's MS-13 and six Mexican cartels. Unfortunately, this move is not a sign of a new security strategy or a plan to help Haiti retake the initiative to defeat the groups. Instead, the designation appears to be part of Trump's deportation agenda, giving U.S. domestic authorities greater latitude to detain Haitian migrants and deport them to either Haiti or, potentially, El Salvador, as they have done with Venezuelan migrants. This is the point where columnists usually write the word 'should.' The U.S. should reverse course on Haiti, and providing greater funding and support. The Trump administration should not deport people to a country where violence is increasing so drastically. The U.N. should authorize a much larger and more comprehensive peacekeeping mission. Countries should contribute more police and other peacekeeping personnel to halt the advance of the gangs trying to take over the country. The international community should fully fund that security mission as well as the vast humanitarian needs of the country in food, health, and education. And, though conditions keep getting further from ideal, Haiti should try to hold some form of elections so there is a democratically chosen leadership group that legitimately represents the population. But realistically, none of these things that should happen will happen. No significant new funding will appear as every country in the world focuses on responding to a global economic slowdown amid the trade war. Countries won't contribute personnel to a mission that is an active combat zone where they will be outgunned by the gangs. Haiti's transitional leadership has no interest in holding elections soon and couldn't pull off the conditions for voters to freely go to the polls right now given the gang control of most areas. The gangs are about to win within months if not weeks. That is a dark analysis, but likely accurate, and analysts must not just warn that Haiti might collapse but begin thinking about what it means for Haiti to be under the full control of violent gangs instead of a recognized government. One of the smaller gangs within the coalition of violent groups sometimes refers to itself half-jokingly as the 'Taliban' and has even set up a radio station in Mirebalais that it calls 'Taliban FM.' There is no real comparison or connection between Haiti's gangs and the radical group that took over Afghanistan, but the analogy to the Taliban takeover in August 2021 as the U.S. withdrew may be a good one to consider when thinking about Haiti's future. However, Haiti's version of it is likely to be even more chaotic as there will not be one powerful group taking over but rather dozens of groups, some of whom will compete violently against each other within and outside the capital. The Taliban have survived for almost three years as the leaders of Afghanistan, and they are fully entrenched. Once the gangs take over Haiti, they are also likely to remain in control for years to come, even as they fight each other. The humanitarian situation will worsen and those who can will flee, though both the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, Haiti's neighbor, have shown themselves to be more hostile than ever towards migrants and refugees from the country. Perhaps the most damning lesson from Haiti's collapse is that the international community knows today what is needed to prevent it, yet collectively chooses not to provide it. Years of warnings went unheeded, funding requests went unfulfilled, and mere statements replaced decisive action. Ongoing chaos in Haiti isn't inevitable, but it is the scenario that is very likely to play out in 2025, the predictable outcome of international neglect. James Bosworth is the founder of Hxagon, a firm that does political risk analysis and bespoke research in emerging and frontier markets, as well as a global fellow at the Wilson Center's Latin America Program. He has two decades of experience analyzing politics, economics and security in Latin America and the Caribbean. The post International Neglect Has Left Haiti Spiraling Toward Total Collapse appeared first on World Politics Review.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Gang attacks force closure of Haiti's ‘beacon of hope' hospital as health crisis grows
In a crisis-wracked nation where hospitals were hurting even before U.S. aid freezes earlier this year and gangs torched or gutted many medical facilities, the University Hospital of Mirebalais was among the last still standing. With solar-power, 300-plus beds and a network of U.S. doctors and experts in global health, the 205,000-square foot state-of-the-art facility provided free cancer care to women and children. It allowed renal patients in northern and central Haiti to access free dialysis treatments without risking their lives passing through gang controlled roads to Port-au-Prince. And it had boasting rights as the only place in the entire Caribbean where conjoined twins were ever separated. 'It was our beacon of hope,' said Dr. Henri Ford, the Haiti-born dean of the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, who in 2015 led a team of more than two dozen health professionals in separating the 6-months old girls, joined at the abdomen, inside the Mirebalais hospital's operating room. 'It really stood as a symbol of the Haitian potential; what we could realize as a nation if we came together and put our minds to it.' With billions of dollars promised, and never delivered, after the devastating 2010 earthquake, l'Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais, as it is known in French, was also a promise met. The $24 million privately built, public facility in Haiti's Central Plateau opened its doors in April of 2013 and was the vision of the late Dr. Paul Farmer. A world-renowned global health champion and co-founder of Boston-based Partners In Health, Farmer devoted his career to bringing healthcare to Haiti's rural poor. Weeks after evacuating the facility, the hospital's executive management has now informed staff in an internal note that the doors will remain closed 'until further notice.' The team cited 'the worrying security situation prevailing in the city.' It's another Haitian city fallen into the hands of armed gangs and another health facility forced to shutter its doors, further reducing the dwindling healthcare options for millions of Haitians. 'There is no way to justify the needless destruction of these medical facilities by the gangs,' said Dr. Ted Higgins, a retired Kansas city vascular surgeon who built and runs the Higgins Brothers Surgicenter for Hope, east of Port-au-Prince in the town of Fond-Parisien near the border with the Dominican Republic. 'It is senseless and criminal but continues to occur as we watch from a distance.' An American missionary, who helps with a medical clinic near the city of Mirebalais, described to Higgins on Wednesday the aftermath of the gangs' attack in the city, 30 miles northeast of the capital and near another border crossing with the Dominican border. 'They removed the solar panels, broke into the church and clinic, and stole medications along with medical and dental equipment, including the new X-ray and sonogram machines,' the missionary said. 'Even sadder, we built homes for two families that were squatting on the property when we purchased it years ago, they burned their homes. The area is under their control,' she went on to say, adding that the facility is now a gang headquarters. One church member who managed to escape to the nearby town of Cange, where Farmer first began his work in Haiti with a clinic before opening a network of medical centers, is now considering returning, the missionary added, because the woman believes it is only a matter of time before the armed groups attack Cange and she doesn't want to be there for the initial violence. 'At least,' the woman has rationalized about her return to Mirebalais even while being overrun by gangs, 'she will have a roof and food they give out from time to time.' The attacks were launched by two gangs, 400 Mawozo and the Canaan gang, which also refers to itself as 'Taliban.' Both are part of the powerful Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which now controls up to 90% of metropolitan Port-au-Prince and on Wednesday killed several members of Haiti's security forces and of a self-defense brigade during gangs' attempt to gain control of two new capital neighborhoods. After storming Mirebalais on March 31 and attacking the police station, gangs released more than 500 prisoners from the local prison. They then targeted the rural town of Saut d'Eau, which lies at the crossroads of the Central Plateau where Mirebalais is located and the West region where Port-au-Prince is situated. READ MORE: Cervical cancer is treatable. Why are women in Haiti still dying from it? More than 51,400 Haitians have been internally displaced in the Central Plateau area, the United Nations International Organization for Migration said this week. At least 76 others have been killed, according to Haiti's Office of Civil Protection. 'The crisis has disrupted public services and education,' Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters in New York. 'All schools in Mirebalais and Saut-d'Eau are closed, with more than 30 schools in neighboring communes being used as temporary shelters for displaced families.' Power cuts, disruptions to communications networks, and the ongoing presence of armed groups were all hampering response efforts, he said. But despite the challenges, U.N. aid agencies and their partners were scaling up the response to support those affected by the brutal violence including deploying mobile clinics to try and provide healthcare to reach 30,000 people in host communities and displacement camps. 'Our humanitarian colleagues note that protection needs are surging. Women, children and people with disabilities require urgent support, and signs of post-traumatic stress have been reported, particularly in the area of Boucan Carré,' Dujarric said about the neighboring town where the majority have fled. In less than four years, Haiti has seen the destruction and closure of dozens of hospitals and medical clinics as armed groups take over entire towns and set up encampments in places of worship, private homes and buildings that once saved lived. In January, when the Trump administration announced cuts to foreign aid, Mirebalais was still functioning and opening its doors to HIV/AIDS patients forced to find a new treatment after cuts forced some agencies dependent on the United States Agency for International Development, to close their doors. Now its beds are empty, all of its patients either sent home or transferred elsewhere including 10 hospitalized children, some of whom with Cerebral palsy and others abandoned, now being cared for by a partner organization. 'It's the biggest tragedy of my lifetime to see this shut down and taken over by a bunch of thugs,' Ford said. In a statement about the situation, Partners In Health noted that for the past decade, whenever someone has fallen sick or a disaster has struck Haiti, the University Hospital of Mirebalais 'has proudly stood as a place where anyone, no matter their background or income, could get access to the free, high-quality health care that they deserve.' 'The tenacity of our colleagues throughout this incredibly challenging period has been a beacon of hope for the people of Haiti and served as the physical manifestation of our organization's commitment to serving as an antidote to despair,' the statement said. At the time of the statement, the hospital had not been attacked. As of now, staff is still trying to assess its state, unable to safely access its grounds or any area south of the Rivière de Fer à Cheval, which is part of the main tributary of the Artibonite River, due to the heavy presence of heavily armed gang members. 'PIH began in Haiti, and our core values of solidarity and accompaniment emerged from our work with Haitian communities,' Dr. Shelia Davis, CEO of Partners In Health, said. 'No matter how daunting the challenges of this particular moment have seemed, our Haitian colleagues have never wavered or indulged in the luxury of pessimism, and I couldn't be more proud to say that our organization will continue to stand with the people of Haiti today, tomorrow, and long into the future.' Dr. Wesler Lambert, executive director of Zanmi Lasante as Partners In Health is known in Haiti, said clinical operations are continuing in other institutions in the network, where patients have been transferred, and staff reallocated. Both Lambert and Davis spoke of resuming activities in Mirebalais as soon as it is safe to do so. But when, is anyone's guest. Police have lost control of the city and the gunmen are now declaring themselves rulers of the region. They've seized control of at least one station, renamed it 'Taliban FM,' and now use it to spread their propaganda amid mounting fears the region's capital of Hinche, will soon be their next target. The escalating gang violence has left Haiti's health system on the brink of collapse, and Haitians with few options as they not only battle chronic illnesses but increase cases of sexual violence, hunger and malnutrition. Before its closure, the University Hospital of Mirebalais served nearly 850 patients a day, including providing maternal care and advanced cancer treatment. Two other hospitals in the area — St. Therese in Hinche and the 200-bed Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the Artibonite — are now coming under increased strain and face critical shortages of oxygen, emergency medical kits and other supplies, Dujarric said on Wednesday. The two facilities have treated more than 200 patients for gunshot wounds, strokes, suspected cholera and malnutrition, since the Mirebalais hospital closure. St. Therese has received more than 3,500 internally displaced people —tripling its outpatient caseload. Albert Schweitzer, meanwhile, transformed its Cholera Treatment Center into a refuge for those fleeing the violence and after helping Mirebalais' doctors and nurses flee, provided meals and housing. In Port-au-Prince, where gunshot victims are dying due to a lack of blood supply and oxygen, less than 40% of hospitals are fully functionally, according to the U.N. Elsewhere, the access to healthcare is even more scarce as communities find themselves unable to get lifesaving medicines and supplies, or even a doctor due to gangs' control of roads. Earlier this month, Haitians lost access to two facilities in metropolitan Port-au-Prince run by the French medical charity, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières. Citing the spiraling violence and what it described as an 'intentional' attack against its staff, the charity said it was closing an emergency center and a trauma hospital for three months. During that time, MSF says it plans to evaluate whether its staff can continue operating in such an environment after being targeted. This week, Higgins and others were grappling with another fallout of the health crisis and gang violence. One of his physicians, Dr. Jolius Thelusme, a urologist surgeon, found himself jailed in the Dominican Republic while trying to cross back into Haiti from northern Haiti where he was seeing patients in Cap-Haïtien. Because of the gangs control of Saut d'Eau, and other cities leading to Fond-Parisien where Thelusme lives and works, he could only access eastern Haiti via the Dominican Republic. But as he traveled through one immigration check point after another on a bus on Saturday, he was eventually arrested by Dominican immigration and placed in an iron box truck, despite presenting his passport and authorization to enter the country. He was taken to a detention center in Haina. After being confined to a crammed cell, Thelusme was eventually released on Tuesday but not before he was handcuffed and forced to have his photo taken before being handed over to an official of the Haitian embassy. Other Haitians, have not been as lucky. READ MORE: Aid cuts mean Haiti will need to do more to shoulder humanitarian response, UN says On Wednesday, Dominican authorities said they had deported 135 people, including children and dozens of women whom had just given birth and others still pregnant, back to Haiti as part of a crackdown on undocumented Haitians. The deportations are part of series of 15 new controversial measures President Luis Abinader announced would begin taking effect on Monday. Dominican police officers were deployed to over 30 hospitals and the government said 48 pregnant women, 39 new mothers and 48 minors were apprehended on the first day and taken to a detention center to be fingerprinted. They were later dropped off at the Elías Piña border crossing, which is in the same region as gang-controlled Mirebalais. 'Delivering healthcare in Haiti is nearly impossible with a lack of humanitarian corridors, particularly around the Port-au-Prince area, and difficult entry routes for medical supplies, medications, and equipment,' Higgins said. 'Now with the gangs destroying medical centers and medical facilities, trashing medical equipment, and turning the facilities into headquarters, there will soon be no delivery of healthcare in Haiti if this pattern continues.' 'The Haitians who remain and provide care for their people are all heroes,' he added. 'They know and are fearful of the gang warfare situation, but most healthcare providers stay with the hope that stability in Haiti somehow can be accomplished.'
Scoop
24-04-2025
- Health
- Scoop
UN Warns Of Rising Deportations Of Haitian Mothers And Newborns From Dominican Republic
According to the UN migration agency, IOM, recent weeks have seen an increase in the deportation of women, including those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, as well as children and newborn babies. The agency has emphasised the heightened risks these groups face being returned to Haiti, where access to basic services remains severely limited. On Tuesday alone, IOM staff at the Belladère border crossing in Haiti received 416 deportees, including 11 pregnant women and 16 women who are still breastfeeding. Meeting the needs 'While IOM teams are not present during the deportation process itself, their efforts focus on the needs of deportees upon arrival, many of whom arrive in precarious and highly vulnerable conditions, often without any resources,' said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, speaking in New York. He explained that IOM provides immediate humanitarian assistance, including food, water, and hygiene kits, as well as first aid, medical referrals, and psychosocial support. Special attention is given to maternal health, and temporary places to live are arranged for women who are breastfeeding when necessary, he added. Worsening conditions Mr. Dujarric also updated on the situation in Haiti, where rising violence and recent funding cuts are undermining essential services and worsening the humanitarian situation, particularly in the Centre Department. Escalating violence on the part of armed groups has triggered mass displacement, with more than 51,000 people, over half of them children, fleeing recent attacks. Many are now stranded at makeshift sites or seeking safety in other regions. No safety inside hospitals He noted that the University Hospital of Mirebalais – a major referral facility with about 300 beds – has suspended operations following a wave of insecurity in the area. 'Armed attacks, a mass prison break and the destruction of public infrastructure forced the hospital to gradually shut down. Before its closure, it served nearly 850 patients each day, including through maternal care and advanced cancer treatment,' he said. Meanwhile, two other hospitals in the area – St. Therese in Hinche and Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Artibonite – are now coming under increased strain and face critical shortages, including oxygen and emergency medical kits. Since the closure of the University Hospital in Mirebalais, they have treated more than 200 patients for gunshot wounds, strokes, suspected cholera and malnutrition. 'St. Therese alone has received more than 3,500 internally displaced people – tripling its outpatient caseload,' he said. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and humanitarian partners are working to relieve pressure on the health system in Centre Department. Mobile clinics are being deployed to reach 30,000 people in host communities and displacement camps, in coordination with the Haitian authorities and the Catholic charity Caritas. Humanitarians are seeking $908 million to support nearly four million people in Haiti this year. Only six per cent of the funding, $57 million, has been received to date.
Miami Herald
24-04-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Gang attacks force closure of Haiti's ‘beacon of hope' hospital as health crisis grows
In a crisis-wracked nation where hospitals were hurting even before U.S. aid freezes earlier this year and gangs torched or gutted many medical facilities, the University Hospital of Mirebalais was among the last still standing. With solar-power, 300-plus beds and a network of U.S. doctors and experts in global health, the 205,000-square foot state-of-the-art facility provided free cancer care to women and children. It allowed renal patients in northern and central Haiti to access free dialysis treatments without risking their lives passing through gang controlled roads to Port-au-Prince. And it had boasting rights as the only place in the entire Caribbean where conjoined twins were ever separated. 'It was our beacon of hope,' said Dr. Henri Ford, the Haiti-born dean of the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, who in 2015 led a team of more than two dozen health professionals in separating the 6-months old girls, joined at the abdomen, inside the Mirebalais hospital's operating room. 'It really stood as a symbol of the Haitian potential; what we could realize as a nation if we came together and put our minds to it.' With billions of dollars promised, and never delivered, after the devastating 2010 earthquake, l'Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais, as it is known in French, was also a promise met. The $24 million privately built, public facility in Haiti's Central Plateau opened its doors in April of 2013 and was the vision of the late Dr. Paul Farmer. A world-renowned global health champion and co-founder of Boston-based Partners In Health, Farmer devoted his career to bringing healthcare to Haiti's rural poor. Weeks after evacuating the facility, the hospital's executive management has now informed staff in an internal note that the doors will remain closed 'until further notice.' The team cited 'the worrying security situation prevailing in the city.' It's another Haitian city fallen into the hands of armed gangs and another health facility forced to shutter its doors, further reducing the dwindling healthcare options for millions of Haitians. 'There is no way to justify the needless destruction of these medical facilities by the gangs,' said Dr. Ted Higgins, a retired Kansas city vascular surgeon who built and runs the Higgins Brothers Surgicenter for Hope, east of Port-au-Prince in the town of Fond-Parisien near the border with the Dominican Republic. 'It is senseless and criminal but continues to occur as we watch from a distance.' An American missionary, who helps with a medical clinic near the city of Mirebalais, described to Higgins on Wednesday the aftermath of the gangs' attack in the city, 30 miles northeast of the capital and near another border crossing with the Dominican border. 'They removed the solar panels, broke into the church and clinic, and stole medications along with medical and dental equipment, including the new X-ray and sonogram machines,' the missionary said. 'Even sadder, we built homes for two families that were squatting on the property when we purchased it years ago, they burned their homes. The area is under their control,' she went on to say, adding that the facility is now a gang headquarters. One church member who managed to escape to the nearby town of Cange, where Farmer first began his work in Haiti with a clinic before opening a network of medical centers, is now considering returning, the missionary added, because the woman believes it is only a matter of time before the armed groups attack Cange and she doesn't want to be there for the initial violence. 'At least,' the woman has rationalized about her return to Mirebalais even while being overrun by gangs, 'she will have a roof and food they give out from time to time.' Gangs force out thousands in central Haiti The attacks were launched by two gangs, 400 Mawozo and the Canaan gang, which also refers to itself as 'Taliban.' Both are part of the powerful Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which now controls up to 90% of metropolitan Port-au-Prince and on Wednesday killed several members of a self-defense brigade in an attempt to gain control of two new capital neighborhoods. After storming Mirebalais on March 31 and attacking the police station, gangs released more than 500 prisoners from the local prison. They then targeted the rural town of Saut d'Eau, which lies at the crossroads of the Central Plateau where Mirebalais is located and the West region where Port-au-Prince is situated. READ MORE: Cervical cancer is treatable. Why are women in Haiti still dying from it? More than 51,400 Haitians have been internally displaced in the Central Plateau area, the United Nations International Organization for Migration said this week. At least 76 others have been killed, according to Haiti's Office of Civil Protection. 'The crisis has disrupted public services and education,' Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary General António Guterres told reporters in New York. 'All schools in Mirebalais and Saut-d'Eau are closed, with more than 30 schools in neighboring communes being used as temporary shelters for displaced families. ' Power cuts, disruptions to communications networks, and the ongoing presence of armed groups were all hampering response efforts, he said. But despite the challenges, U.N. aid agencies and their partners were scaling up the response to support those affected by the brutal violence. 'Our humanitarian colleagues note that protection needs are surging. Women, children and people with disabilities require urgent support, and signs of post-traumatic stress have been reported, particularly in the area of Boucan Carré,' Dujarric said about the neighboring town where the majority have fled. Dozens of hospitals, clinics shuttered In less than four years, Haiti has seen the destruction and closure of dozens of hospitals and medical clinics as armed groups take over entire towns and set up encampments in places of worship, private homes and buildings that once saved lived. In January, when the Trump administration announced cuts to foreign aid, Mirebalais was still functioning and opening its doors to HIV/AIDS patients forced to find a new treatment after cuts forced some agencies dependent on the United States Agency for International Development, to close their doors. Now its beds are empty, all of its patients either sent home or transferred elsewhere including 10 hospitalized children, some of whom with Cerebral palsy and others abandoned, now being cared for by a partner organization. 'It's the biggest tragedy of my lifetime to see this shut down and taken over by a bunch of thugs,' Ford said. In a statement about the situation, Partners In Health noted that for the past decade, whenever someone has fallen sick or a disaster has struck Haiti, the University Hospital of Mirebalais 'has proudly stood as a place where anyone, no matter their background or income, could get access to the free, high-quality health care that they deserve.' 'The tenacity of our colleagues throughout this incredibly challenging period has been a beacon of hope for the people of Haiti and served as the physical manifestation of our organization's commitment to serving as an antidote to despair,' the statement said. At the time of the statement, the hospital had not been attacked. As of now, staff is still trying to assess its state, unable to safely access its grounds or any area south of the Rivière de Fer à Cheval, which is part of the main tributary of the Artibonite River, due to the heavy presence of heavily armed gang members. 'PIH began in Haiti, and our core values of solidarity and accompaniment emerged from our work with Haitian communities,' Dr. Shelia Davis, CEO of Partners In Health, said. 'No matter how daunting the challenges of this particular moment have seemed, our Haitian colleagues have never wavered or indulged in the luxury of pessimism, and I couldn't be more proud to say that our organization will continue to stand with the people of Haiti today, tomorrow, and long into the future.' Dr. Wesler Lambert, executive director of Zanmi Lasante as Partners In Health is known in Haiti, said clinical operations are continuing in other institutions in the network, where patients have been transferred, and staff reallocated. Both Lambert and Davis spoke of resuming activities in Mirebalais as soon as it is safe to do so. But when, is anyone's guest. Police have lost control of the city and the gunmen are now declaring themselves rulers of the region. They've seized control of at least one station, renamed it 'Taliban FM,' and now use it to spread their propaganda amid mounting fears the region's capital of Hinche, will soon be their next target. The escalating gang violence has left Haiti's health system on the brink of collapse, and Haitians with few options as they not only battle chronic illnesses but increase cases of sexual violence, hunger and malnutrition. In Port-au-Prince, where gunshot victims are dying due to a lack of blood supply and oxygen, less than 40% of hospitals are fully functionally, according to the U.N. Elsewhere, the access to healthcare is even more scarce as communities find themselves unable to get lifesaving medicines and supplies, or even a doctor due to gangs' control of roads. Earlier this month, Haitians lost access to two facilities in metropolitan Port-au-Prince run by the French medical charity, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières. Citing the spiraling violence and what it described as an 'intentional' attack against its staff, the charity said it was closing an emergency center and a trauma hospital for three months to evaluate whether they can continue operating in such an environment after being targeted. Dominican immigration crackdown This week, Higgins and others were grappling with another fallout of the health crisis and gang violence. One of his physicians, Dr. Jolius Thelusme, a urologist surgeon, found himself jailed in the Dominican Republic while trying to cross back into Haiti from northern Haiti where he was seeing patients in Cap-Haïtien. Because of the gangs control of Saut d'Eau, and other cities leading to Fond-Parisien where Thelusme lives and works, he could only access eastern Haiti via the Dominican Republic. But as he traveled through one immigration check point after another on a bus on Saturday, he was eventually arrested by Dominican immigration and placed in an iron box truck, despite presenting his passport and authorization to enter the country. He was taken to a detention center in Haina. After being confined to a crammed cell, Thelusme was eventually released on Tuesday but not before he was handcuffed and forced to have his photo taken before being handed over to an official of the Haitian embassy. Other Haitians, have not been as lucky. On Wednesday, Dominican authorities said they had deported 135 people, including children and dozens of women whom had just given birth and others still pregnant, back to Haiti as part of a crackdown on undocumented Haitians. The deportations are part of series of 15 new controversial measures President Luis Abinader announced would begin taking effect on Monday. Dominican police officers were deployed to over 30 hospitals and the government said 48 pregnant women, 39 new mothers and 48 minors were apprehended on the first day and taken to a detention center to be fingerprinted. They were later dropped off at the Elías Piña border crossing, which is in the same region as gang-controlled Mirebalais. 'Delivering healthcare in Haiti is nearly impossible with a lack of humanitarian corridors, particularly around the Port-au-Prince area, and difficult entry routes for medical supplies, medications, and equipment,' Higgins said. 'Now with the gangs destroying medical centers and medical facilities, trashing medical equipment, and turning the facilities into headquarters, there will soon be no delivery of healthcare in Haiti if this pattern continues.' 'The Haitians who remain and provide care for their people are all heroes,' he added. 'They know and are fearful of the gang warfare situation, but most healthcare providers stay with the hope that stability in Haiti somehow can be accomplished.'
