PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: Armed gangs looted Haiti’s National Library Wednesday, terrorizing the Caribbean nation’s capital Port-au-Prince amid extended political turmoil.
Director Haiti’s National Library Dangelo Neard told media that the history of Haiti — the Western Hemisphere’s second-oldest republic — was being threatened.
He said the thugs were taking away the library’s furniture adding they also ransacked the building’s generator.
He further said that their documentary collections, rare documents over 200 years old, with importance to the national heritage were in danger.
Armed groups control much of Port-au-Prince and the suburbs as the government continues to fail and the creation of a promised transitional authority continues to be delayed.
After a few days of reduced violence, attacks intensified again in several areas of Port-au-Prince on Monday.
The attack on the National Library follows last week’s attacks on two universities: the Ecole Normale Superieure and the National School of Arts.
The United Nations humanitarian aid office said on Wednesday that two medical centers and 10 pharmacies were looted in the same week, and that the remaining hospitals were under more pressure.
The country’s embattled national police said in a statement Tuesday that it was determined to restore order and calm.
Haiti has been rocked by violence since February, when powerful criminal organizations joined forces to attack police stations, prisons, airports and ports.
They are calling for the removal of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has been in power since the assassination of president Jovenel Moise in 2021. The country does not have a parliament and the last election was in 2016.
The country has also been plagued by poverty, natural disasters, political instability and gang violence for decades, and Moise assassination sparked months of unrest even before the February clashes.
Henry, who was elected and unpopular, announced on March 11 that he was stepping down as part of an international mediation plan to make way for a so-called transitional council.
However, weeks later, the council has yet to be formally established due to disagreements among political parties and other stakeholders over the nomination of the next prime minister, as well as questions about the legitimacy of such councils.
