SAN JUAN — Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry arrived in Puerto Rico Tuesday after his plane was denied entry into the Dominican Republic.
The Associated Press says the Dominican Republic, which shares the island Hispaniola with Haiti, announced it was closing all air traffic with its violence-racked neighbor hours earlier.
Prime Minister Henry left Haiti last week on a mission to the South American nation of Guyana and the west African nation of Kenya to gain support for the deployment of a multinational United Nations peacekeeping force to Haiti, which has been plagued by brutal gang violence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and beyond.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry speaks to students during a public lecture at the United States International University (USIU) Africa, in Nairobi, March 1, 2024.
The gangs used Henry’s absence to attack the National Penitentiary and another prison in Port-au-Prince, killing several people and allowing thousands of inmates to escape into the city. Gangs also staged shooting attacks on Haiti’s main airport.
Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, the leader of an alliance of gangs that staged last week’s attacks, told reporters Tuesday that the gangs would not allow Henry to return to Haiti and urged him to resign.
The government has declared a state of emergency and a nighttime curfew.
Haiti has been mired in violence since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, with street gangs engaging in kidnappings and murders while taking over large parts of the country. Henry, who leads an interim government, was scheduled to step down in February, but delayed elections due the worsening security situation and a political stalemate with opposition forces.
Gang leader and former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier leads a march against Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, September 19, 2023.
Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.