Gangs rule Haiti’s capital. Some say they’re ready to overthrow the government too
CNN
Haiti’s gangs treat human life as a commodity, kidnapping and killing thousands to seize control of an estimated 80% of capital city Port-au-Prince.
From above, Haiti’s capital city Port-au-Prince still looks serene, its white-washed homes climbing steep green hills that encircle a glittering bay. But to step onto its cracked streets requires a careful calculation of risk and reward. Ruthless gangs have a stranglehold on the city, preying on the population, carving neighborhoods into warring criminal fiefdoms, and cutting Haiti’s international port off from the rest of the country. In this city, the most-shared online videos are often torture footage, recorded and posted by gangs to spread horror and hasten ransom payments for thousands of kidnapping victims. Last month, within hours of landing at the city’s Toussaint L’Ouverture airport, a CNN team began to receive forwarded messages from contacts sharing the latest cruel footage – a bound woman twisting away from flames as her kidnappers jeered. It was a glimpse into the viral daily torment of life in Haiti, where frequent civilian protests emphasize that the population has reached a breaking point. Gangs control 80% of the capital, according to UN estimates, and are fighting to seize the rest. Since last week, Port-au-Prince has been gripped by a wave of highly coordinated gang attacks, with armed groups burning down police stations and freeing prisoners in what one gang leader described as a direct challenge to Haiti’s unpopular Prime Minister Ariel Henry. On Sunday, Haiti’s government declared a state of emergency after thousands of inmates apparently escaped from its largest prison. “We have chosen to take our destiny in our own hands. The battle we are waging will not only topple Ariel’s government. It is a battle that will change the whole system,” said Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier, a former police officer who styles himself as Robin Hood figure in his territory, in a statement reported by local media.
The decision that may make it easier for other candidates to challenge voting laws – even if they ultimately win their election.
The Pentagon is working to surge dozens of military lawyers to Minneapolis to assist in federal prosecutions amid an immigration enforcement crackdown there, according to two officials familiar with the matter and a written request that has circulated inside the Defense Department.
The au pair who was having an extra-marital affair with Brendan Banfield when he allegedly killed his wife and another man in February 2023 is set to resume her pivotal testimony in Banfield’s double-murder trial Wednesday morning.
President Donald Trump unveiled in rapid succession last week a series of proposals aimed at reducing Americans’ cost of living, focused on housing and credit card debt.
Illinois and Minnesota sued the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown. But they may have a tough road ahead of them in court, one legal analyst says.
Whether it’s conservatives who have traditionally opposed birth control for religious reasons or left-leaning women who are questioning medical orthodoxies, skepticism over hormonal birth control is becoming a shared talking point among some women, especially in online forums focused on health and wellness.
Former election clerk Tina Peters’ prison sentence has long been a rallying cry for President Donald Trump and other 2020 election deniers. Now, her lawyers are heading back to court to appeal her conviction as Colorado’s Democratic governor has signaled a new openness to letting her out of prison early.
The Trump administration’s sweeping legal effort to obtain Americans’ sensitive data from states’ voter rolls is now almost entirely reliant upon a Jim Crow-era civil rights law passed to protect Black voters from disenfranchisement – a notable shift in how the administration is pressing its demands.
Venezuelan officials, including acting President Delcy Rodriguez, returned to X late Tuesday in an apparent reversal of Nicolas Maduro’s 2024 decision to block the site in the country.
The woman killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week served on the board of her son’s school, which linked to documents encouraging parents to monitor ICE and directing them to training.
During a marathon Supreme Court session Tuesday over whether states may ban transgender women from participating in women and girls’ sports, some justices were already focused on what may lie around the corner
President Donald Trump appeared to flip someone off as he toured a Michigan Ford plant in an incident caught on video Tuesday, and the White House defended the action as an “appropriate” response to someone screaming at the commander-in-chief.
White House officials are heaping blame on DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro over her office’s criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, faulting her for blindsiding them with an inquiry that has forced the administration into a dayslong damage control campaign, four people familiar with the matter told CNN.