US citizens urged to leave Haiti immediately

The State Department urged all U.S. citizens to leave Haiti on Wednesday, strengthening previous warnings over safety concerns in the country.

“Given the current security situation and infrastructure challenges, U.S. citizens in Haiti should depart Haiti as soon as possible via commercial or private transport,” the department said.

Conditions in the Caribbean country, and especially its capital Port-au-Prince, have deteriorated dramatically in recent months. The U.S. Embassy was briefly closed earlier this month among widespread gang violence and gunfire in the city’s streets. 

In late July, an American nurse and her daughter were kidnapped and held for ransom by a gang in the country. She was returned to safety about two weeks later.

The State Department first issued a “do not travel” notice for Haiti in late July, noting the risk of kidnappings. Nonemergency embassy personnel were also asked to leave the country.

Gang violence in Haiti increased by 28 percent in the first quarter of 2023, and the senior U.N. representative in Port-au-Prince told the U.N. Security Council earlier this year that in 2022, “gang violence overall reached levels not seen in decades.”

The sharp increase in gang activity began following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, and it has continued to expand since then.

The violence has caused at least 165,000 Haitians to flee their homes, mostly to temporary shelters.

The U.S. has backed a United Nations plan for a multinational police force in the country, led by Kenya. That force would focus on combating gang violence, mostly in Port-au-Prince.