Heavily armed Haitian gang surrounds hospital in capital and traps people inside
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November 16, 2023
Odelyn Joseph, Associated Press file
The entrance at the Fontaine Hospital Center in Cité Soleil area of the Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. A heavily armed gang burst into a hospital in Haiti on Wednesday, Nov. 15, and took hostage hundreds of women, children and newborns, according to the director of the medical center who pleaded for help via social media.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A heavily armed gang surrounded a hospital in Haiti on Wednesday, trapping women, children and newborns inside until police rescued them, according to the director of the medical center, who pleaded for help via social media.
The Fontaine Hospital Center in the capital of Port-au-Prince is considered an oasis and a lifeline in a community overrun by gangs that have unleashed increasingly violent attacks against each other and residents. People who live in the capital's sprawling Cite Soleil slum are routinely raped, beaten and killed.
The hospital founder and director, Jose Ulysse, told The Associated Press that gangs were torching homes around the hospital and preventing people inside from leaving. He said it appeared that none of the gang members entered the hospital.
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