Heavy shooting was reported Friday evening March 8 near the national palace of Haiti. The island, in the grip of chaos, entered a state of emergency last Sunday after armed gangs stormed several prisons.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry was in Kenya seeking a deal for an international force to fight Haitian gangs. Jimmy Cherizier, alias “Barbecue”, the most powerful gang leader in Port-au-Prince who controls a good half of the city with thousands of men in his service, called at the end of February for the overthrow of the prime minister.