Haitians deported by US face unwelcoming homeland
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(26 Sep 2021) Thousands of
(26 Sep 2021) Thousands of Haitians deported from the United States are returning home to a capital more dangerous and dystopian than the one they left years before.
Port-au-Prince is a city shrouded in smoke and dust, often tolling with gunfire where entire sections are under gang control and with a police force unable to cope.
Police stations have been looted. Traffic circles have burned tyres and material piled up for barricades.
There could be as many as 100 gangs in Port-au-Prince; no one has an exact count and allegiances often are violently fluid.
This is the Port-au-Prince that awaits the deportees.
At least 2,334 Haitians deported from Texas landed here in the last week with $15-$100 in cash handouts and a "good luck out there" from migration officials.
Many are setting foot in the country for the first time in years, even decades.
More than a city, Port-au-Prince it is an archipelago of gang-controlled islands in a sea of despair.
Some neighbourhoods are abandoned.
Others are occupied by heavily armed men, barricaded behind fires, destroyed cars and piles of rubbish.
On Saturday, a local paper reported 10 kidnappings in the previous 24 hours.
The victims included a journalist, a singer's mother and a couple driving with their toddler, who was left behind in the car.
Even before the killing of President Jovenel Moïse, the government was weak - the Justice Palace inactive, congress disbanded and the legislative building pocked by bullets.
Now, although there is a prime minister, the government continues to be absent.
Most of the population of Port-au-Prince has no access to basic public services, no drinking water, electricity or rubbish collection.
And the deportees will be joining thousands of fellow Haitians who have been forced to leave their homes, pushed out by the violence.
These displaced have taken up residence in crowded schools, churches, sports centres and makeshift camps among the ruins.
Many of these people are out of reach, even for humanitarian organisations.
According to the United Nations, more than 18,000 people were displaced in Port-au-Prince since gang violence began to spike in May.
Of these, the International Organization for Migration only has access to about 5,000, maybe 7,000.
The US has had a checkered history with the nation since Haitians freed themselves from slavery and French colonial rule at the start of the 19th century.
Americans occupied Haiti for nearly two decades in the 20th Century.
Since then, through coups and earthquakes, US leaders and the international community have both contributed to chaos and tried unsuccessfully to rebuild the country.
All the while, Haitian immigrants made their way to US shores by sea to Florida or through Mexico to Texas.
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3 سال پیش
در تاریخ 1400/07/09 منتشر شده
است.
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