The World Food Program (WFP) of the United Nations Organization emphasized yesterday Wednesday that there is a “dramatic” situation in Haiti, where the risk of not being able to help part of the population is increasing due to a lack of funding.

Almost half of the Haitian population, or 4.9 million people, are increasingly finding it difficult to feed themselves, and this organization is currently providing aid to 2.5 million of them, Lola Castro, director of the PEP department, told AFP. which is responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean.

But “because of funding cuts around the world, we are no longer able to reach one (million) of those 2.5 million.” Haitians, he added with concern, as in less than two weeks a summit of the states of the region and the EU is scheduled in Brussels (July 17-18).

According to Mrs. Castro, the situation is “dramatic”.

There is 122 million dollars (112 million euros) missing for the PEP to carry out the operations it has planned in Haiti this year, he pointed out.

The day before yesterday, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, once again called for international “support” to be offered to the Haitian police to deal with the wave of violence affecting the impoverished Caribbean country.

There are “200 gangs” operating in Haiti, which have “taken control” of sectors “of the city of Port-au-Prince”, the capital, underlined Mrs. Castro, explaining that the situation prevents citizens from going to work, children to go to school, the world to be supplied with the essentials. The population “is being held hostage,” he commented.