Haiti declares a 3-month state of emergency as gangs ravage country's central region

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Haiti’s government announced Saturday that it is implementing a three-month state of emergency in the country’s central region as gang violence surges.

The measure will cover Haiti’s West, Artibonite and Center departments “to continue the fight against insecurity and respond to the agricultural and food crisis,” according to a government statement.

The region — known as Haiti’s rice basket — has been under attack in recent years, with gangs killing farmers or forcing them to abandon their fields as they raze nearby communities.

The United Nations’ human rights office noted that from October 2024 to the end of June 2025, more than 1,000 people have been killed, more than 200 injured and 620 kidnapped in the Artibonite and Central departments and nearby areas.

Gang violence also has displaced more than 239,000 people in Haiti’s central region, according to the U.N. In late April, dozens of people waded and swam across the country’s largest river in a desperate attempt to flee gangs.

On Friday, the government appointed a new interim director general to oversee Haiti’s National Police, which is working with Kenyan police officers leading a U.N.-backed mission to help quell gang violence.

André Jonas Vladimir Paraison replaces former police director general Normil Rameau, who was criticized for his struggle to contain violence perpetrated by gangs that control up to 90% of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Rameau had repeatedly warned about the department’s severe underfunding.

Paraison previously served as head of security of Haiti’s National Palace, and he was on duty as a police officer when former President Jovenel Moïse was killed at his private residence in July 2021.

The changes come as Laurent Saint-Cyr, a wealthy businessman, takes over as president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council, which is charged with holding elections by February 2026.