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UN reports 3,960 gang deaths in Haiti by 2023

UN reports 3,960 gang deaths in Haiti by 2023
Photo: AP

November 29 |

A report published on Tuesday by the United Nations denounces that the violence unleashed by gangs in Haiti has left more than 3,000 people killed and thousands more injured and victims of kidnapping, and called for an expedited dispatch of a multinational force to the island.

“The situation in Haiti is catastrophic. We continue to receive reports of killings, sexual violence, displacement and other violence, including in hospitals,” said Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The senior diplomat cited the report, which covers the period between the entire period and October 2023, as showing that killings by gang groups have left 3,960 people dead, 1,432 injured and another 2,951 who “have been kidnapped in gang-related violence”.

Last October the UN Security Council approved the use of a multinational force, commanded by Kenya – without the participation of the United Nations – to assist Haitian police forces in dealing with gangs.

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Shortly thereafter, the African nation’s parliament froze the mission, demanding that the training and funding conditions established at the time of announcing the dispatch of the troops be met first.

Haitians, on the other hand, are wary of an armed presence with UN consent. The Caribbean country was cholera-free until 2010, when UN peacekeepers dumped infected sewage into a river. More than 9,000 people died from the disease and some 800,000 became ill.

Tuesday’s report focuses particularly on the Bas-Artibonite district, located in the center of the Caribbean nation, about 100 km from Port-au-Prince, the capital.

In Bas-Artibonite, the report says, 1,694 people were killed as of October of this year.

Violence in Haiti has reached alarming levels since gunmen assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse at his own residence in Port-au-Prince in July 2021.

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Several suspects, of Colombian citizenship, as well as Haitian-Americans are either under prosecution or have already been convicted in the US in connection with the assassination.

The gangs have used sexual violence as a method of intimidating the population, the report said, something that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres himself had already denounced.

Following the report, the UN Panel of Experts on Haiti requested that the Security Council update the list of persons and entities under UN sanctions” for supporting, preparing, ordering or committing acts “that are contrary to international law.

International

Seven bodies found with signs of torture in Sinaloa

Mexican authorities discovered seven lifeless bodies on Wednesday, showing clear signs of torture, in the rural area of Culiacán, Sinaloa, just one day after the same number of bodies was found in several municipalities in the western state of Mexico.

Six of these seven victims were found along the side of the highway that connects Culiacán to Mazatlán, near Laguna de Canachi, according to local media reports, which also noted that messages addressed to a criminal group were found near the bodies.

This brings the total number of violent deaths in the region to seven within just 24 hours. On Tuesday, authorities reported more victims found in the municipalities of Culiacán, Elota, and Mazatlán.

Among the victims identified was a local cattle rancher named Ramón Velázquez Ontiveros, as well as a police officer from Mazatlán, who was killed by a motorcyclist outside his home in San Marcos.

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International

Málaga paralyzed by new storm as torrential rains hit Spain

Thousands of people were evacuated and trains were suspended as torrential rains once again struck Spain on Wednesday, following the devastating floods that killed at least 223 people two weeks ago, most of them in the Valencia region.

The national meteorological agency (Aemet) issued a maximum, red-level alert for the Andalusian province of Málaga in the south, and for Tarragona in the northeast, due to the new DANA (isolated depression at high levels), also known as a cold drop.

The city of Málaga appeared to be the hardest hit by the rains, with more than 3,000 people evacuated from 1,000 homes near rivers, flooded streets, and the suspension of urban transport and train services to Madrid.

“Today Málaga is paralyzed,” said Andalusia’s regional president, Juan Manuel Moreno, to reporters. “I know it is a problem for citizens not being able to take their children to school or go to work, but after what we saw in Valencia, we need to ‘prevent’ and minimize the impact in terms of loss of life,” he added.

The storm also led to the postponement of a match between Spain and Poland in the Billie Jean King Cup women’s tennis competition, which was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Málaga.

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International

Hezbollah launches explosive drone strike on Israel’s defense headquarters

The Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah claimed on Wednesday that it launched an attack with explosive drones against the Israeli army’s headquarters in Tel Aviv.

The Iran-backed organization reported in a statement that it had carried out “an aerial attack with a squadron of explosive drones” targeting the site that houses Israel’s main defense institutions.

Hezbollah later stated that it also fired a barrage of rockets at the Glilot military intelligence base in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.

The Israeli military indicated that “sirens sounded in several areas of northern and central Israel following the launch of projectiles from Lebanon.”

It later clarified that “five projectiles were identified over the territory, and some were intercepted.”

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