Doctors Without Borders has warned that the episodes of violence in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, have surged since ten days ago the trail was lost to four Salvadoran soldiers. The organization describes how the city is experiencing "intense gunfire and explosions caused by drones" in the northeast area, the last place where the presence of the soldiers was confirmed.
Between October 18 and this past Monday, MSF has provided medical care to 30 people with gunshot wounds or affected by these explosions in the Tabarre and Cité Soleil hospitals, managed by the entity. The NGO urgently calls on the Haitian authorities and all actors involved to "protect the civilian population and guarantee access to health centers for all injured or sick people, without any distinction".
"We are enormously concerned about this resurgence of violence in several densely populated neighborhoods of the capital," says Davina Hayles, MSF mission chief in Haiti. "Among the victims, we have treated many women and children; it is chilling to see them arrive at our hospitals with injuries caused by gunfire or explosions," she adds.
Salvadoran deployment and search for the soldiers
Sources from the Haitian Executive have informed the media outlet Alter Presse that in the country, and in particular in Port-au-Prince, more than a thousand personnel, around 1,300 military, have been deployed in recent hours, with the aim of taking part in the location of their companions in a context of extreme violence.
The operations have begun in the locality of Santo, in the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets, the scene where the uniformed men disappeared after an ambush attributed to the armed gangs that have dominated the capital and other regions of Haiti for years. For the moment, the Government of El Salvador has not offered any public assessment of what happened.
Last Sunday, a leader of one of these gangs released a video addressed to the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, in which he declared the soldiers dead during what he described as a mistaken attack.
Wilson Joseph, alias 'Lanmo Sanjou', leader of Los 400 Mawozo, one of the most feared gangs in Port-au-Prince and wanted by the United States, assured that the four Salvadorans died as a result of "an error" after entering an area controlled by the Chen Mechan, a rival gang, and being shot at by several armed men.
According to their version, the group detected an unknown vehicle in their territory and its members "took measures, causing the death of the foreigners." These statements have not been independently corroborated and, officially, the military remain missing.