US government chartered flight evacuates Americans from Haiti as hunger soars: 'There are a lot of desperate people'

us government said on saturday It announced that it is arranging charter flights from Haiti to the United States for people with valid passports.

The flight departs from Cap-Haitien International Airport, which is only open to limited travel due to violence in the country. The State Department directed citizens and eligible family members interested in traveling to the United States to fill out an immigration form.

Officials have warned that traveling from the capital Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haitien is “dangerous” and advised people to only consider flying “if they are confident that they can reach Cap-Haitien Airport safely.” The State Department said the government cannot currently provide ground transportation to the airport, but is working “on options to depart from Port-au-Prince.” The airport and the capital are approximately 190 miles apart.

of The country was overrun by violent gangs. Some experts claim this has sparked a small-scale civil war. Aid groups say around 1.4 million Haitians are at risk of starvation and more than 4 million need food aid, sometimes eating only once a day or not at all. That's what it means.

“Haiti is facing a prolonged and large-scale famine,” Jean-Martin Bauer, Haiti director for the United Nations World Food Program, told The Associated Press. He said malnutrition rates in Croix-des-Bouquets, east of the Haitian capital, are “comparable to any conflict zone in the world.”

gangs block aid

Authorities are scrambling to get food, water and medical supplies to emergency shelters and other locations. Mass violence suffocates lives Many people are confined to their homes across Port-au-Prince and beyond.

The group has not been active since February 29, when they attacked major institutions, torched police stations, shut down a major international airport with gunfire, and stormed two prisons and released more than 4,000 inmates. Only a few aid organizations were able to reopen.

forced violence prime minister ariel henry He had been scheduled to announce early Tuesday that he would step down once a transitional council was formed, but gangs demanding his ouster have continued to carry out attacks in several communities.

Bauer and other officials said gangs have cut off distribution routes and paralyzed major ports, and World Food Program warehouses are running low on grains, beans and vegetable oil as meals continue to be delivered. Ta.

“We have weeks of supply. I'm talking weeks, not months,” Bauer said. “That scared me.”

There was some order inside the school's makeshift shelter, with dozens of people lining up for food. More than 3,700 shelter residents are competing for a place to sleep and sharing holes in the ground for toilets.

Erigenes Jefran, 54, who once made a living selling up to four wheelbarrows of sugar cane a day, said gangs had recently chased him and his four children out of the neighborhood. Ta.

“My house was completely destroyed and robbed,” he said. “They took everything I had and now they won't even let me work.”

He has placed his two youngest children with relatives in a quiet rural part of Haiti, and his two oldest children are living with him in a shelter.

“Can you believe I have a house?” he said. “I was making ends meet. But now I just depend on what people feed me. This is not life.”

is more than There are thought to be 200 gangs operating in Haiti., nearly 20 are concentrated in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. They currently control 80% of the capital and are fighting for more territory.

Recent attacks have killed dozens of people and left more than 15,000 homeless.

“There are a lot of desperate people.”

Marie Lourdes Genas, a 45-year-old street vendor and mother of seven children, said gangs forced her out of three homes before her family reached the evacuation center.

“If you look around you, there are so many desperate people just like me who had life but lost it,” she says. “I've had a terrible life. I've put in a lot of effort in my life and tried to survive, thinking about what will happen in the end.”

She occasionally goes out to sell beans to buy extra food for her children (who sometimes only eat once a day), but ends up being chased by armed men and on the run. He said the product would end up spilling on the ground.

This situation has made it impossible for aid organizations like Food for the Hungry to operate at once. when they helped is most needed.

“We're stuck with no cash, no ability to move what's in storage,” said Bobby Sander, the group's Haiti representative. “It's devastating.”

Food for the Hungry operates a cash-based program that sends money to about 25,000 families a year, but ongoing looting and bank raids have crippled the system, he said. “Since February 29th, we have been unable to do anything at all,” he said.

On a recent morning, the smell of cooking drew a group of adults and teenage boys to a sidewalk near a building where aid workers were preparing meals to be distributed to other shelters in the city.

They asked people coming in and out of the building, “Can you help me bring some food? I haven't eaten anything today yet.” However, their pleas fell on deaf ears. The food was to be sent to the school's evacuation center.

“We know it's not a lot,” said Jean Emmanuel Joseph, who oversees food distribution at the Center for Farmers' Organizations and Community Action. “It's a shame we don't have the possibility to give them more.”

At the evacuation center, adults and children tried to get back in line. “You've already eaten your plate,” he said. “Let's get other people to buy it too.”

Refuge resident Jethro Antoine, 55, said food was only meant for residents, but there was little they could do about the outsiders who forced their way in. You will be killed for it,” he said.

USAID has announced that Haiti has approximately 5.5 million people, almost half the population. humanitarian aid is neededhas pledged $25 million, on top of the $33 million announced earlier this week.

Bauer, along with the United Nations, said less than 3% of this year's humanitarian appeal to Haiti has been funded, and the World Food Program needs $95 million over the next six months.

“Conflict and hunger go hand in hand in Haiti,” he said. “I'm worried about where we're going.”