Haiti crisis

Mike Waltz, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, says his government will soon target violent gangs in Haiti who make money off social media posts. Gang leaders in the troubled Caribbean country are prolific users of social media and have celebrated killings, issued threats and posted musings on various sites.

"It is clear that the security conditions are not met at the level for us to have elections in August," Fils-Aimé said in an interview broadcast Monday on Magik9 radio in Haiti and reported by Reuters.

The Trump administration wants to deport hundreds of thousands of Haitians back to Haiti — where a million and a half people are already refugees from gang violence. Legal experts spoke on WLRN’s South Florida Roundup about the resources and options for the community being affected by this decision.

A member of Haiti's transitional presidential council has announced that a majority of the panel has voted to fire the country's embattled Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé as the country's political chaos deepens.

The U.S. Embassy posted Wednesday on X that such a maneuver would undermine efforts to establish "a minimal level of security and stability" in Haiti, and said the U.S. would take "appropriate measures" to respond.

For decades, the United Nations has intervened in Haiti in a bid to address persistent political, economic and security crises. To date, all attempts have failed.

Haiti's once-illustrious Grand Hôtel Oloffson has been burned down by gangs this past weekend. The beloved Gothic gingerbread home in Port-au-Prince that inspired books, hosted parties until dawn and attracted visitors from Mick Jagger to Haitian presidents. Hundreds mourned the news as it began to spread across social media.

During the six-hour tour, the Kenyans were mostly ignored by people on the street and occasionally heckled; the vehicle was shot at once.

Haiti's law enforcement authorities say a member of a violent gang accused of kidnapping four U.S. citizens has been extradited to the U.S. Haiti’s National Police on Tuesday identified the individual as Jhon Peter Fleronvil who is affiliated with the gang known as “Kokorat San Ras."

Kenya's parliament has approved the deployment of 1000 police officers to Haiti to help deal with rising gang violence in the Caribbean nation.

Fontaine Hospital Center in the Cite Soleil slum has been considered an oasis in a community overrun by gangs that have unleashed increasingly violent attacks against each other and civilians.

Haiti recently saw flooding and landslides that killed more than 50 people and forced tens of thousands from their homes, before being struck by a major earthquake that killed at least four people. On The South Florida Roundup, we discussed the difficulties Haiti faces.