Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henri, absent for days as gang violence in his country escalated dramatically since last week, landed in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, the spokeswoman for the governor of this American territory in the Caribbean announced.

It is now “confirmed” that the de facto prime minister has “landed in Puerto Rico,” Sheila Aglero told AFP, clarifying that she did not know if he was still on the island.

The State Department had reported on Monday that Ariel Henri was returning from Kenya, but, according to information from Haiti’s Radio Télé Métronome, he was unable to arrive in Port-au-Prince due to security problems at the Haitian capital’s airport.

Heavily armed thugs, who have been launching coordinated attacks on strategic locations since last Thursday in a bid to topple Prime Minister Henri’s government as the leader of a gang alliance had warned, stormed the police academy in the capital yesterday, where a night-time curfew is supposed to be enforced. after the escape of thousands of inmates in prisons and an attempt to seize the airport.

The raid on the police academy, where about 800 cadets are trained, was repulsed, according to Lionel Lazar, coordinator of the Haitian police union.

The day before, an attack against Toussaint-Louverture International Airport was repelled by police, an AFP journalist found. The attack prompted international airlines to cancel all flights to Port-au-Prince. The civil aviation service of the Dominican Republic announced that all air connections with Haiti are suspended “with immediate effect” and until further notice.

The new “escalation” of violence has forced at least 15,000 more people to flee their homes in Port-au-Prince, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said yesterday in New York, adding that aid organizations were distributing food and other essential items to forcibly displaced.

The UN Security Council will today discuss the crisis in Haiti behind closed doors, according to its schedule. Member States will be briefed remotely by Maria Isabel Salvador, United Nations representative in Haiti.

Activity resumed, tentatively, yesterday in Port-au-Prince, although roads remained closed as residents erected makeshift barricades with stones, branches and other objects.

The head of the de facto government — who was supposed to hand over power in February — traveled to Nairobi last week to sign an agreement to deploy about 1,000 Kenyan police to his country as part of an international force to help Haitian forces. enforcement of order. The mission of the force is authorized by the UN and supported by the US.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, remains mired in a serious political, humanitarian and security crisis, exacerbated by the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021. The political process is at an absolute impasse.

According to the UN, more than 8,400 people became victims of the gangs last year — this number includes murders (nearly 5,000), injuries and kidnappings. Victims increased “by 122% compared to 2022”.

“Every day that passes, if not every hour, it becomes clear that the Haitian people are suffering trying to survive in the midst of horrific and inhumane gang violence,” commented UN representative Dujarric, recalling Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call to the Henri government and its international partners to take steps to “advance the political process” through “the holding of elections”.