Guns as church donations: US arms trafficking sparks outrage in Haiti
Haitians are outraged by a steady flow of US guns fueling rampant gang violence and a string of recent arms-trafficking scandals, including the discovery of weapons in a shipping container labeled as church donations.
The country is in shock after Haiti's customs agency seized shipping containers holding 18 "weapons of war," four handguns and nearly 15,000 rounds of ammunition that were shipped from the US to the Episcopal Church of Haiti.
The church says the documents have been falsified and that it has nothing to do with the containers.
Guns smuggled from the US to Haiti are often used in gang wars such as a recent turf battle in the town of Cite Soleil, which left more than 471 people killed, injured or unaccounted for in less than 10 days.
Executive Director of Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network Pierre Esperance on Thursday condemned the US actions in sending illegal weapons and warned that they are “fueling the insecurity”.
“We don’t know how many (weapons) got through. We don’t know how many are left to go through. But it's a lucrative business,” said Ronald Lareche, a former senator who served on the parliamentary security commission.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” said Lareche, who says the murder of his sister and brother-in-law led him to speak out about customs corruption and its link to gun trafficking.
Between April 24 and May 16 alone, at least 92 people unaffiliated with gangs and some 96 others alleged to be gang members were killed during coordinated armed attacks in Port-au-Prince, according to the UN.
The violence is preventing thousands of Haitian children from going to school, the UN said last week.
“Since 24 April, half a million children have lost access to education in Port-au-Prince where some 1,700 schools are closed, according to government figures,” it said.
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