Unrelenting gang attacks in Haiti have paralyzed the country and left it with dwindling supplies of basic goods
PORT-AU-Rotting fruit, withered vegetables, empty water jugs and spent gas canisters now stock the stores and stands that serve Haiti’s poor — a consequence of the unrelenting gang attacks that have paralyzed the country for more than a week and left it with dwindling supplies of basic goods.
The terrifying violence as anti-government gangs battle police in the streets has crippled the fragile economy and made it extremely difficult for many of the country’s most vulnerable to feed themselves.
The main port in the capital, Port-au-Prince, closed down, stranding scores of containers full of food and medical supplies at a time when U.N. officials say half the country’s more than 11 million inhabitants don’t have enough to eat, and 1.4 million are starving.
Grocery stores in upscale parts of the capital remain stocked, but their goods are out of reach to most in a country where most people earn less than $2 a day.
“People are desperate for water,” said Jean Gérald, who was hawking blackened tomatoes and shriveled scallions on a recent day, confident they would sell quickly because food is so scarce in parts of Port-au-Prince. “Because of gang violence, people will go hungry.”
Next to him were rows of empty jugs he hadn’t been able to refill because the violence had forced one of the country’s main bottled water operators to shut down.
Gérald noted that he was running out of things to sell because the depot where he usually buys rice, oil, beans, powdered milk and bread had been set on fire and its owner had been kidnapped.
As he spoke, gunfire echoed in the distance.
