U.S. government charter flight to evacuate Americans from Haiti, as hunger soars: "There are a lot of desperate people"

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

March 16, 2024 / 1:09 PM EDT


The U.S. government said on Saturday that it is arranging a charter flight from Haiti to the U.S. for those with valid passports.

The flight will leave from the Cap-Haitien International Airport, which can only accommodate limited travel amid violence in the country. The State Department instructed citizens and eligible family members interested in traveling to the U.S. to fill out an intake form.

Officials warned that the trip from Port-au-Prince, the country's capital, to Cap-Haitien is "dangerous" and recommended that people consider the flight "only if you believe you can reach Cap-Haitien airport safely." The government cannot currently provide overland transport to the airport, the State Department said, but is working "on options for departures out of Port-au-Prince." The airport and the capital city are about 120 miles apart.

The country has been overwhelmed by violent gangs that some experts say have unleashed a low-scale civil war. Some 1.4 million Haitians are on the verge of famine, and more than 4 million require food aid, sometimes eating only once a day or nothing at all, aid groups say.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/haiti-us-government-evacuate-americans-hunger-gang-violence/

[Irish_Dem]

1. Way past due.

They should have been evacuated several weeks ago.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. The airports had been taken over

so they needed to find a way to do it (at least until some airport could be secured). The ports are also in bad shape and/or off limits/taken over.

They have been warning Americans to get out for at least a year and it was designated a "Do Not Travel" country by the State Department last summer - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/haiti-travel-advisory.html

Most who have gone there were from there (but were naturalized American citizens) and/or had family there and/or were part of NGOs operating there.

(you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink)

[Irish_Dem]

5. I meant the embassy staff and federal employees.

I think some were evacuated last week, but they should have all been taken out.

Yes I know, there are always some civilian Americans who won't leave a dangerous war zone area.
That is on them. They need to understand US troops are not going to be killed retrieving them
after it is too late.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Usually they are the last ones to go

But they ordered all the non-essential personnel out last July (which went along with that "Do Not Travel" advisory) - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/Intercountry-Adoption-News/ordered-departure-for-personnel-of-u-s--embassy-port-au-prince.html

Apparently some still stayed or came back later.

So who were left were mostly the essentials (e.g., whoever was "Acting" Ambassador - maybe a Charges d'Affairs and some other associated staff) and those who were non-essential who chose not to leave when the means existed... But that doesn't change the unfortunate situation with the airports and docks recently.

[Irish_Dem]

8. In this case, the remaining should have been forced to leave two weeks ago.

The situation was well known to be deteriorating seriously by the hour.

So their refusal to leave or return puts the US marines in danger trying to get them out.
I hope no more troops are being sent to extract them.

A hostage situation right before the election would be a feather in some caps.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. I agree 100%

You might recall this ordeal last year - https://abcnews.go.com/US/american-couple-held-ransom-haiti-released-month/story?id=98563917

I remember following that story and it was a textbook case of naivete by this young couple.

[Irish_Dem]

11. Yes and now there would be a big political motive for a hostage situation.

A hostage situation with embassy officials right before the US presidential election.
We know how well that went for Jimmy Carter.

The Haitian rebels would be quite happy to earn some PutinGOP cash to stage something.

I think it is safe to assume that given Trump, Putin and GOP desperation, we are going
to see some major bad news thrown in Biden's lap between now and next November.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Agree and I am hoping some of these "preventable" issues

can be resolved early on because they are just gearing up now.

[Irish_Dem]

13. Yes indeed, I hope some of the dirty tricks can be stopped before they happen.

Oh yes, we are just seeing the beginning of the ratfucking.

It is just starting and will get much worse.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. 1.4 million people on the verge of famine

If ever a people deserved reparations - it is Haiti. They did not pay off their fake debt to France until 1947. Then follow that with the Duvalier years.

The intergenerational trauma of an unfair debt is we have these human beings in the disaster they are in.

God bless Kenya for putting their soldiers in harms way to bring aid to these folks.

[dalton99a]

4. Kenya's government puts deployment of police to Haiti on hold

https://apnews.com/article/kenya-haiti-un-police-gang-violence-542869c4b67e02dbba97bd8f6235ae75

Kenya’s government puts deployment of police to Haiti on hold after chaos grips the Caribbean nation
By TOM ODULA
Updated 2:55 PM CDT, March 12, 2024

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya is halting plans to deploy at least 1,000 police officers to Haiti following the unprecedented violence that erupted in the Caribbean nation and the announcement by its Prime Minister Ariel Henry that he would resign once a presidential council is created, a Kenyan official said Tuesday.

Kenya had agreed last October to lead a U.N.-authorized international police force to Haiti, but the country’s top court in January ruled this was unconstitutional, in part because of a lack of reciprocal agreements on such deployments between the two countries.

Kenya’s President William Ruto said that he and Henry had witnessed the signing of the reciprocal agreements between Kenya and Haiti on March 1, clearing the path for the deployment.

Under the plan, the U.N.-backed multi-national police led by Kenyan officers was to help quell gang violence that has long plagued Haiti. But violence escalated sharply since Feb. 29, with gunmen burning police stations, closing the main international airports and raiding the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

[Marthe48]

7. Can someone get food to Haiti

without getting killed? And would it get to the 1.4 million starving Haitians?

It is too bad that corporations have made food a big part of their bottom line profits.

[Irish_Dem]

9. The GOP wants starving Haitians to get into boats and head to Florida

right before the election.

So of course congress will not authorize food shipments.

Anyway I am not sure how you get the food in safely, and I doubt it would
get to the people who need it.

[live love laugh]

14. Thank God America (Democrats and Biden) ❣️