Americans were scrambling through gang-controlled territory to reach a landing strip outside the US embassy on Wednesday as gunmen battled for control of the Haitian capital.
Around 1,000 US citizens are thought to be trapped in the Caribbean country which has descended into near-anarchy since Prime Minister Ariel Henry was forced from office last week.
Gun battles broke out in the embassy district of Petion-Ville as 15 Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the capital Port-au-Prince, and another 14 left for Orlando from the north of the country on a flight organized by Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
The State Department predicted that 30 Americans a day could be evacuated as the gangs smashed down doors in the once prosperous neighborhoods of Pétion-Ville, Meyotte, Diègue and Métivier.
‘If the neighborhood had mobilized, we could have destroyed them, but they were heavily armed, and there was nothing we could do,’ said Pétion-Ville resident Samuel Orelus.
A neighborhood vigilante group hold the tools with which they hope to keep the gangs at bay
More corpses appeared overnight in the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince
Large parts of the capital have been reduced to a lethal wasteland as gangs battle for control
‘They were about 30 men with heavy weapons.
‘When I woke up to go to work, I found I could not leave because the neighborhood was in the hand of the bandits.’
The neighborhood is home to around a dozen foreign embassies and upmarket hotels which have been targeted by notorious gang leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier.
Thousands of residents have banded together in self-defense organizations known as the Bwa Kale movement in a bid to keep the gangs at bay, but they have also been accused of carrying out summary executions.
Fifteen people were reported dead in the neighborhood on Wednesday and a Reuters reporter saw two suspected gang members killed, dismembered and set on fire before being dragged through the street.
The capital’s port and airport are being blockaded by gangs but DeSantis said Cap-Haitien airport in northern Haiti remained open to the approximately 360 Floridians are still trapped in the country
‘This will be the first of probably many flights to bring people – US citizens, Florida residents, obviously – who are in harm’s way, given what’s going on in Haiti,’ he added.
‘We are willing to dedicate the resources, we understand this is important, we understand that there’s people that are really in danger right now that are our fellow Floridians.’
Police are outgunned and heavily outnumbered by the gangs whose ranks have been swollen by 4,000 prisoners freed when two of the capital’s largest prisons were stormed
Nothing but ash remains of this victim of the violence in the capital
Coffins have become a routine sight as they are wheeled out to lift the dead from the streets
His emergency management executive director, Kevin Guthri, said he was running into ‘problem after problem’ trying to verify evacuees’ identities with the federal government but insisted the flights would continue.
‘We are picking people up at their front door, getting them into a plane, getting them to this airport and getting them back to their front door in Florida,’ he added.
‘That’s what we’re committed to doing.’
There were joyful scenes as the passengers were reunited with loved ones at Sanford Orlando Airport but those evacuated by helicopter from Port-au-Prince were taken to Santo Domingo in the neighboring Dominican Republic.
‘We will continue to monitor demand from U.S. citizens for assistance in departing Haiti on a real-time basis,’ a State Department official said.
‘The overall security situation, availability and reliability of commercial transportation, and U.S. citizen demand will all influence the duration of this departure assistance.’
More than 1.5million Haitians are at risk of famine according to aid agencies and around 17,000 have lost their homes.
A woman clutches her baby and runs as gunshots ring out across Port-au-Prince with at least 80 per cent of the capital in the hands of the gangs who are turning their sites on the city’s prosperous neighborhoods
Bloodstains on an outside wall are all that remain of one victim shot dead in Petion-Ville
The fighting has been intensified by the release of around 4,000 prisoners after two of the country’s biggest jails were stormed by gangs.
Former Prime Minister Henry, who was deposed after postponing already long-delayed elections has been stranded in Puerto Rico trying to broker the creation of a transition government among the warring factions.
Hopes were raised of a breakthrough on Wednesday amid reports that a nine-member council had been agreed after the last remaining hold-out Jean-Charles Moïse of the Pitit Desalin party agreed to join.