Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A minibus collided with a bus in Haiti, killing at least 21 people and injuring more than 30 others, authorities said.

The crash occurred Wednesday in the eastern coastal town of Arcahaie, just northwest of the Caribbean country’s capital, civil protection officials said.

Authorities said witnesses told them that a minibus traveling from Port-au-Prince to Saint-Marc tried to pass another car when it hit a bus head-on. The bus had been traveling from Gonaives to the capital.

No further details were immediately available.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hundreds of women protested in Haiti’s capital, denouncing gang violence and political instability that they say could lead to a new dictatorship.

At the Saturday demonstration marking the national day for the Haitian women’s movement, the protesters deplored the rising power of gangs in recent months which has led to a spike in kidnappings for ransom in Port-au-Prince and other provinces.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian authorities announced Friday that more than 400 inmates escaped and 25 people died in a prison breakout, making it the country’s largest and deadliest one in a decade, with the prison director and a powerful gang leader among those killed.

Some believe Thursday’s jailbreak at the Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison in northeast Port-au-Prince was to free gang leader Arnel Joseph, who had been Haiti’s most wanted fugitive until his 2019 arrest on charges including rape, kidnapping and murder.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian President Jovenel Moïse announced Sunday that police have arrested more than 20 people he accused of trying to kill him and overthrow his government, including a Supreme Court judge who has the support of opposition leaders demanding that Moïse step down.

Moïse spoke at Haiti’s airport in Port-au-Prince, flanked by the country’s prime minister and the police chief as he prepared to leave for the southern coastal town of Jacmel for the opening ceremony of its yearly carnival, which is being held amid the pandemic.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Haiti will reopen its key textile industry next week, Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe said, suggesting the impoverished nation had escaped the worst of the global coronavirus pandemic by imposing early on a state of emergency.

The poorest country in the western hemisphere typically struggles to fight serious disease outbreaks due to its high population density, lack of water and sanitation infrastructure and inadequate health services.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The director of one of Haiti’s top hospitals has been kidnapped, prompting staff to refuse to take in new patients as the impoverished country battles coronavirus amid a spike in gang violence.

Dr. Jerry Bitar, a surgeon, was kidnapped shortly after leaving his home on Friday to go to work at Hospital Bernard Mevs.

“Hospital staff decided not to take any new cases for the time being,” administrative assistant Carla Puzo said. “We will continue to look after those already here

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - The director of one of Haiti’s top hospitals was kidnapped on Friday, prompting staff to refuse to take in new patients in protest as the impoverished country battles an outbreak of the novel coronavirus amid a spike in gang violence.

Dr. Jerry Bitar, a surgeon, was kidnapped shortly after leaving for work at Hospital Bernard Mevs from his home in an upmarket neighborhood of the capital, hospital staff told Reuters.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Haitian police demanding better working conditions shot up the army headquarters Sunday, the head of the armed forces said.

Media reports said six people were wounded in the attack in Port-au-Prince.

“We are under siege. We are coming under fire with all kinds of weapons — assault rifles, Molotov cocktails, tear gas,” General Jodel Lessage said.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Violent clashes erupted in the Haitian capital on Sunday, with two Reuters witnesses observing shots being fired until late at night, as police stepped up their protest over pay and conditions.

The clashes were the most violent since police, this time heavily armed, started protesting at the end of last year as the impoverished Caribbean island nation struggles with a prolonged economic and political crisis.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A fire swept through a Haitian children’s home run by a Pennsylvania-based religious nonprofit group, killing 15 children, officials said Friday.

Rose-Marie Louis, a child-care worker at the home, told The Associated Press that the fire began around 9 p.m. Thursday and firefighters took about 90 minutes to arrive. The orphanage had been using candles for light due to problems with its generator and inverter, she said.

About half of those who died were babies or toddlers and the others were roughly 10 or 11 years old, Louis said.