Port-au-Prince [Haiti], March 21: The first such flight took 15 people from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic's capital, Santo Domingo. A US State Department spokesman estimated that more than 30 US citizens could leave Haiti each day by multiple helicopter flights, according to Reuters.
US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said US government employees would provide consular assistance to those brought to Santo Domingo, from whom they would need to arrange their own travel back to the US.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced last week that he would resign but the formation of an interim government, a plan backed by Caribbean nations and Washington, remains deadlocked.
Powerful armed gangs have taken control of much of Port-au-Prince, while human rights groups report widespread killings, kidnappings and sexual violence. According to United Nations estimates, more than 360,000 people have been displaced in Haiti .
Mr. Patel said the number of Americans who filled out an online form asking for information related to leaving Haiti has reached nearly 1,600 people. According to Mr. Patel, not all of those people asked for help leaving the Central American country and some were asking about general safety information.
On March 17, Washington organized a charter flight between the city of Cap-Haïtien in Haiti and the city of Miami in the US state of Florida.
"We will also continue to explore operations out of Cap-Haïtien so people can leave," Mr. Patel said via email.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has been rocked by growing unrest since February when gangs raided a prison, freed thousands of prisoners and demanded Prime Minister Henry step down.
The capital Port-au-Prince has been overrun with members of armed groups for weeks, with police stations, power stations, buildings and public facilities attacked, and corpses littering the streets.
Residents said violent clashes and shootings occurred in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petion-Ville on March 19-20, forcing them to barricade roads to protect themselves and their families. prevent the infiltration of gangs, according to AFP.
The violence has exacerbated an already deep humanitarian crisis in Haiti, amid warnings of famine, malnutrition and the collapse of basic services.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper