The Haitian government announced on Saturday the establishment of a three -month state of emergency in the center of the country, due to the resurgence of gang violence.
This measure will aim for the departments of the West, the Artibonite and the Center, in order to continue the fight against insecurity and to respond to the agricultural and food crisis
according to a government statement.
This region, nicknamed the rice attic
From Haiti, has been the target of attacks in recent years, the gangs killing farmers or forcing them to abandon their fields, which destroyed the surrounding communities.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that between October 2024 and the end of June 2025, more than 1000 people had been killed, more than 200, injured and 620, removed in the departments of Artibonite and the Center as well as their surroundings.
According to theHimthe violence of the gangs has also caused the movement of more than 239,000 people in the center of Haiti. At the end of April, dozens of people crossed the country’s largest river on foot and swimming, desperately trying to escape the gangs.
Nouveau DG For the national police
Friday, the government appointed a new interim managing director to supervise the Haiti national police, who collaborates with Kenyan police at the head of a mission supported by theHim To contribute to the fight against gang violence.
The new interim director of the Haitian national police (PNH), Vladimir Parison (center), listens to the speakers during its installation at the reception villa in Port-au-Prince, on August 8, 2025.
Photo : Getty Images / AFP / CLARENS SIFFROY
André Jonas Vladimir Passage replaces the former police director of police, Normil Rameau, criticized for his fight against violence perpetrated by gangs which control up to 90 % of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. Mr. Rameau had repeatedly denounced the serious under-funding of the department.
Passage was previously Head of Security at the National Palace of Haiti and police in service when former President Jovenel Moïse was killed in his private residence in July 2021.
These changes arise while Laurent Saint-Cyr, a wealthy businessman, takes over the chairmanship of the presidential transitional council of Haiti, responsible for organizing elections by February 2026.
