Haiti has been all over the news as of late, with what is being called a low-scale civil war.
With gangs running rampant on the streets, American missionaries in the country are begging for help, but their calls are apparently going unanswered.
Talking Points…
- What's happening in Haiti
- Missionaries ignored
- Analysis
Haiti has been plagued with violence in recent weeks, so much so that the Prime Minister has announced that he would resign his position. This comes after criminal gangs have taken over the streets, overwhelming Haiti's security forces, attacking prisons, the airport, and forcing schools and businesses to close. In Port-au-Prince, an estimated 15,000 people have been driven from their homes.
The gangs are being led by Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, the leader of the G9 gang, which has mended the fences with other local gangs, at least temporarily, to force Prime Minister Ariel Henry out of office. And it worked, as Henry announced on March 12 that he would step down once a transitional presidential counsel had been created. Cherizier stated:
"Either Haiti becomes a paradise or a hell for all of us. It's out of the question for a small group of rich people living in big hotels to decide the fate of people living in working-class neighborhoods."
The Biden administration made headlines earlier this week when it announced that an anti-terrorism team of U.S. Marines had been sent to Haiti to protect the U.S. Embassy there. However, American missionaries in the country have been begging for assistance from the U.S. government, and their pleas have apparently been ignored.
Jill Dolan, who is part of the Love a Neighbor group working in Haiti, said the Biden administration more or less brushed them off, simply telling them to "be safe." Dolan stated:
"Okay, well, that's not really helpful.
"My fear is that we will be caught in the middle of something really dangerous. We're already on the front lines of it; we're in a bad area. It's kind of depressing. The gunfire never stops."
The nonprofit missionary group has been forced to move to a "makeshift motel" in Port-au-Prince, which also happens to be where some of the worst fighting is. Dolan said she recently tried to leave Haiti to return to the United States for a personal commitment but was told to "stay put."
Miriam Cinotti, another missionary working in Haiti to rescue young women from gang violence told a similar story. She stated:
"Nobody's reached out to us or anything. And then, of course, when we saw the non-essential workers get picked up, we were thinking, 'Well, maybe they're going to come back and start evacuating Port-au-Prince and then have a plane for everyone else."
Other missionaries stated they contacted the embassy, receiving no real help. In response, some Republicans have taken matters into their own hands, with Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) taking it upon himself to rescue a group of missionaries. He stated:
"This mission reiterates a disturbing reality under President Biden's leadership: American lives are continually jeopardized. I have led missions to rescue Americans multiple times when Joe Biden has deserted them.
"There's a clear pattern of abandonment. Yet again, this group was left behind by Biden and his State Department after requesting their help in country."
This is obviously not a good look for this administration, especially after what happened in Afghanistan, with American citizens being abandoned and left to fend for themselves to be evacuated out of the country. But again, Americans are not even aware of this unless they read Fox News or other conservative media outlets.
While the mainstream media have all reported the Marines being sent to lock down the embassy, few, if any, mainstream outlets are reporting that Mills rescued a group of missionaries, but more have been left behind with no help from the Biden administration to get out of the country. This is literally state-run media only telling the stories that the administration wants to get out… and it is despicable because we all know how this story would be reported if a Republican were in office right now. This will now make two times that Biden had abandoned Americans behind enemy lines and it is also the second time the media has just blatantly ignored the story.
