UN warns Haitian gangs taking over country, extra police support not enough

U.N. special envoy Helen La Lime on Wednesday warned of Haiti's increasingly dire gang crisis, and stated that increased police funding and resources have been insufficient.

"We’re not getting the job done," she said. "We need to get down to the business of building this country back."

Powerful gangs have been infiltrating once peaceful communities in the Haitian capital and beyond, with experts estimating that they now control about 60% of Port-au-Prince. They have pillaged neighborhoods, raped adults and children and kidnapped hundreds of victims ranging from U.S. missionaries to a hot dog street vendor in a bid to control more territory, with violence worsening since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.