Armed groups invaded the Port-au-Prince National Penitentiary, the largest prison in Haiti, on Saturday night and an unknown number of inmates escaped, the French embassy in the country announced.
“The bandits took over the Port-au-Prince National Penitentiary and allowed some detainees to escape,” declared the embassy, cited by the Efe news agency.
The invasion followed hours of intense exchange of fire with police outside the prison.
The prison has hundreds of inmates living in inhumane conditions, including Colombian citizens accused of being involved in the death of Haitian President, Jovenel Moise, in July 2021, as well as gang leaders awaiting trial, Efe also said.
After the main Haitian prison, the National Palace could be the next target of armed groups determined to overthrow the government of the country’s Prime Minister, Ariel Henry.
So far, there is no official information about the events of Saturday night (dawn today in Lisbon), marked by gang attacks on public institutions.
Various versions suggest that the objective of these gangs is to gain strength before the arrival of the multinational security support mission, which will be led by Kenya, in Haiti.
On Friday, Kenya and Haiti signed, in Nairobi, a bilateral agreement requested by the African country’s courts, to allow the sending of a contingent of a thousand police officers of that nationality, as part of the multinational security support mission that the Kenyans will lead and which the UN approved last October.