American Airlines, Spirit Cancel Haiti Flights As Planes Hit By Bullets
Violent gang attacks under the direction of Jimmy Chérizier (“Barbecue”) on Thursday near Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti damaged several commercial aircraft while JetBlue took off, fortunately unscathed. American Airlines and Spirit Airlines have suspended their flights from Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Haitian carrier Sunrise Airways canceled flights as well after several of its aircraft were struck by stray bullets. This included a Havana-bound Airbus 320, which suffered damage while parked at the international terminal.
Gang members demolished a wall of the Haiti National Police Academy, located close to the U.S. embassy, and expanded into gunfire near the airport. A JetBlue Airways flight to New York JFK was preparing for departure. Violence also spilled over to Guy Malary domestic airport, where a bullet damaged a window and a chair.
Events occurred on the 20th anniversary of the coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Chérizier took credit for the attacks, aiming to prevent Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning to Haiti from a trip to Kenya where he committed to elections by August 31, 2025.
Haiti’s problems are often blamed on French colonialism and reparations taken by France after the country’s independence. But those were expunged in 1947. What’s striking is the economic divergence of Haiti and the Dominican Republic starting in the 1960s. The two countries started the period with a similar standard of living. The D.R.’s has grown eight-fold, while Haiti’s has not improved in 70 years. That’s suggestive, at least, that Haiti’s problems are home-grown including massive corruption. Disney used to manufacture there! It was largely replaced by the drug trade.
(HT: Enilria)
