International News

Gangs Attack, Burn, and Loot a Seminary in Haiti

April 4, 2024
Motorists pass a burning barricade March 7, 2024, during a protest in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as the government said it would extend a state of emergency for another month after an escalation in violence from gangs seeking to oust the Prime Minister Ariel Henry. On March 11, Henry resigned after weeks of mounting chaos in the Caribbean nation. (Photo: OSV News photo/Ralph Tedy Erol, Reuters)

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — A seminary run by the Spiritan Fathers was attacked Monday, April 1, by gangs in the latest incidence of violence that has roiled the Caribbean country in recent weeks, according to the Haitian Conference of Religious (CDH).

The attack on the St. Martial Minor Seminary School in Port-au-Prince occurred Monday  evening, the CDH reported. The invaders set fire to a computer room and looted the seminary library. In addition, several vehicles parked nearby were burned.

“It is with indignation that we note how sons and daughters of the country are attacking private and state property without scruple and endanger the lives of other people who seem to have no value in their eyes,” conference officials said in a statement.

The same day, gangs attempted to take by force the National Palace of Haiti,  which houses the offices of the president, but were repulsed by Haitian police and palace security officers, the CDH said. Five officials were reportedly injured in that incident, one of them seriously.

The Spiritan missionaries are the latest in a lengthening list of religious and laypeople who have been victims of violence in strife-torn Haiti, prompting the CDH to express “deep pain at the dizzying chaotic situation” that the country is going through.

During Holy Week, on March 28, the United Nations recommended “immediate and bold action” to address the worsening situation in the Caribbean country. The U.N. said the rule of law in Haiti is practically nonexistent and that state institutions are “on the verge of collapse.”

“Tackling insecurity must be a top priority to protect the population and prevent further human suffering. It is equally important to protect institutions essential to the rule of law, which have been attacked at their very core,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

According to the U.N., the number of victims of violence in Haiti increased considerably in 2023, compared with previous years, with 4,451 people killed and 1,668 injured. In the first three months of 2024, 1,554 people were killed and 826 injured as of March 22.