Haiti: Port-au-Prince and its LGBT+ community face the risk of genocide
A plea for action to end Haitian gangs’ reign of terror
COMMENTARY
The situation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is worsening by the hour, a crisis that has been met with a staggering indifference on the part of many nations. The past week was characterised by threats of massive violence, as “Barbecue”, the leader of the capital’s main criminal gang, threatens the entire population of the coastal city with genocide in the coming days if he does not succeed in taking the reins of power by force.
This past weekend, his men tried to storm the National Palace, but failed.
Among the populations most at risk of genocide are the most stigmatised and ostracised groups in society, including LGBT+ people who have been displaced or taken hostage in neighbourhoods controlled by drug traffickers.
Faced with this unbearable situation, organisations in Guadeloupe, Martinique, the United States and mainland France have issued a press release calling on the authorities in their respective countries to enable the dispatch of a military force to protect the people of Haiti from those who threaten to turn the nation into a mass grave.
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