A team of 150 Guatemalan soldiers has arrived in Haiti, tasked with helping to restore peace amid the chaos caused by armed criminals.
The first group of 75 soldiers arrived on Friday and another 75 on Saturday, all enlisted in the military police, according to the Guatemalan government.
There was an emergency across the Caribbean country for months as the government battles violent gangs that have taken control of much of the capital Port-au-Prince.
The Haitian military is aiming to reinforce the security team supported by the United Nations led by Kenya which has so far failed to stop the violence from spreading.
Kenya sent nearly 400 police officers in June and July last year to help fight these criminals.
This was the first phase of an international force authorized by the UN to be made up of 2,500 police officers from various countries.
A small number of troops from Jamaica, Belize and El Salvador are also in Haiti as part of the mission and the US is a major sponsor of the operation.
In March 2024, armed groups raided two of Haiti’s largest prisonsreleasing about 3,700 prisoners.
The Ouest Department – the region that includes Port-au-Prince – was initially placed under a state of emergency on March 3, after increasing violence gripped the capital.
Chronic instability, dictatorship and natural disasters in recent decades have left Haiti the poorest nation in the Americas.
In 2021, President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by unknown gunmen in Port-au-Prince.
Since then the country has been plagued by economic chaos, little political control and violent gang wars.
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