Airport in Haiti is closed after gangs shoot at a commercial flight

Gangs shot at a plane, so Haiti’s airport is closed. The new acting prime minister has promised to bring peace back.

On Monday, groups fired at a commercial flight coming into Port-au-Prince, which shut down Haiti’s international airport. Several airlines had to temporarily stop their services while the country got a new acting prime minister who promised to bring back order.

Gangs opened fire on a Spirit Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Port-au-Prince just as it was about to land. The flight attendant got hurt, so the plane had to go to the Dominican Republic instead. The event was confirmed by the US Embassy and airplane tracking data.

The shooting was part of “gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince,” according to the US Embassy. These efforts may include armed attacks and damage to infrastructure. Because of this, on Monday, Spirit, JetBlue, and American Airlines all canceled flights to and from Haiti.

In other parts of Port-au-Prince, fights broke out between gangs and cops at the same time. Gunshots could be heard as highly armed police officers looked for cover and people ran away in fear. Gangs set homes on fire in areas with more money, which caused schools to close and caused a lot of fear.

At the same time as this chaos, interim prime minister Garry Conille was fired by a council that wanted to bring back political order. Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, a businessman, was brought in as his replacement. He promised to restore peace and hold elections, which have not happened in Haiti since 2016.

Fils-Aimé told a group of lawmakers and security officials, “There is a lot that needs to be done to bring back hope.” “I feel very bad for the people who were hurt and had to leave everything they owned.”

Haiti has had weeks of political unrest, which has made people worry that violence will get worse in a country where this kind of trouble is becoming more regular. Gangs have taken over because there is no government, which has caused problems at airports and ports and caused chaos.

Gangs are thought to rule about 85% of Port-au-Prince by the UN. An UN-backed mission run by Kenyan police to fight gang violence is having trouble because it doesn’t have enough resources. This has led to calls for a full UN peacekeeping mission.