State Department urges Americans to get out of Haiti, but how is the question

Source: ABC News

March 7, 2024, 7:37 PM


The U.S. State Department is encouraging American citizens to leave Haiti following an ongoing spate of gang violence. A series of coordinated gang attacks began against a number of government institutions last week, with prisons, dozens of police stations and the international airport all targeted. The violence has paralyzed the country, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti has a warning on its website advising citizens to "monitor local news and information on security conditions from commercial transportation providers and arrange to leave Haiti when security conditions and commercial transportation options permit doing so."

How U.S. citizens can make it out of the country, however, remains unclear. Haiti's airport has been temporarily closed and is inoperable. Gangs attempted to seize control of it on Monday, ABC News previously reported. A land crossing into the Dominican Republic, which Haiti borders, is also almost impossible to travel from Port-au-Prince as the route is dominated by gangs. There are no widely used ports for passenger travel by sea.

This is the second time in just days that the U.S. Embassy in Haiti posted a notice for Americans to leave. It issued the same security alert on March 3.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-state-department-urges-american-citizens-leave-haiti/story?id=107870692