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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Etienne Côté-Paluck in Port-au-Prince and Tom Phillips

‘The gangs are in charge’: Haiti’s outgunned police fight a desperate rear defence

Masked Haitian police officers carry rifles on patrol
Haitian police patrol the capital, Port-au-Prince. The police union says 17 officers have been killed and ‘many’ wounded in the first four months of 2024. Photograph: Mentor David Lorens/EPA

Nine hours and countless bullets after gunmen began bombarding Stanley’s police station in Port-au-Prince, the twentysomething officer started fearing he would not make it out alive.

“If you don’t hear from me, it’s because I’m dead,” he wrote on a family WhatsApp group by way of goodbye.

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