Hundreds of women and children taken hostage in Haiti hospital

Odelyn Joseph Associated Press The entrance to the Fontaine Hospital Center, in the Cité Soleil slum of the capital Port-au-Prince, Haiti, January 23, 2023.

A heavily armed gang surrounded a hospital in Haiti on Wednesday, trapping women, children and newborns inside inside until the police came to their aid, according to the director of the medical center who appealed for help on social media.

Jose Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Center in the sprawling Cité Soleil slum in the capital Port-au-Prince, told The Associated Press that gangs were burning down houses surrounding the hospital and preventing anyone from entering. found inside to leave the premises. He previously said it appeared gangs had entered the hospital.

According to Mr. Ulysse, the Haitian National Police responded to his call for help and arrived with three armored trucks to evacuate 40 children and 70 patients to a private home in a safer part of the city. Among those evacuated were children on oxygen.

“The gangs are in total control of the area,” he added.

A spokesperson for the national police d 'Haiti did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The hospital is seen as an oasis and a lifeline in a community overrun by gangs that have unleashed increasing attacks violent against each other, with civilians living in Cité Soleil regularly raped, beaten or killed.

Mr. Ulysse identified those responsible as members of the Brooklyn gang, led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, better known as “Ti Gabriel.” Gabriel Jean-Pierre is also the leader of a powerful gang alliance known as G-Pep, one of two rival coalitions in Haiti.

The Brooklyn gang has some 200 members and controls certain communities in Cité Soleil, including Brooklyn. It is involved in extortion, diversion of goods and general violence against civilians, according to a recent UN report.

“The G-Pep coalition and its allies have greatly increased their cooperation and diversified their income, in particular by carrying out kidnappings for ransom, which allowed them to strengthen their combat capacity”, indicates the report.

When the Associated Press visited the Fontaine Hospital Center in At the beginning of the year, Mr. Ulysse indicated in an interview that the gangs had already targeted him personally twice.

Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, the gangs have not have stopped gaining power in Haiti, and the number of kidnappings and assassinations is increasing.

Early this year, at least 20 armed gang members burst into a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders and removed a patient from an operating room. The criminals had entered the hospital by simulating a life-threatening emergency, the organization said.