Haiti's Prime Minister is resigning as gang violence continues to overwhelm the capital. In South Florida, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is calling on President Joe Biden to help.
One woman, who didn’t want to be identified for her family's safety, is trying to remain hopeful. While she's in Miami, she says many of her family is in Haiti, including her parents.
“Frustrated, angry, sometimes I feel powerless,” she said. “An insurmountable amount of sadness for the state of my country.”
Her parents are stuck in the country since the airport is closed and taken over by gangs. She has other relatives in Port-au-Prince, who she's trying to move from the capital to a safer area.
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“Of course there’s a lot of fear, uncertainty, nobody knows what’s coming next,” she said.
The violence in Haiti is getting worse, but on Tuesday Prime Minister Ariel Henry answered calls to resign, saying he will leave office once a transitional government is in place. Henry is widely blamed for the worst turmoil in Haiti’s troubled history.
Schools and businesses are still closed. Gangs control 80% of the capital and stormed the country's two biggest prisons, freeing thousands of inmates.
“Speaking to my parents, I sense their sense of uncertainty,” she said.
Miami-Dade County’s Mayor sent a letter to Biden Tuesday formally requesting multiagency community briefings regarding the humanitarian crisis in Haiti.
“We propose a multiagency, in-person meeting as soon as possible with local and community leaders to discuss pressing issues related to the crisis unfolding in Haiti, including international airport closures, food and potable drinking water shortages, and the recently announced U.S. Southern Command plan to mobilize support for the Haitian National Police. Miami-Dade County’s Emergency Management Department has also been closely monitoring the situation with regular briefings through Operation Vigilant Sentry," she wrote.
“I would urge every single person who’s hearing my voice right now to ask your local politician, whoever, ask questions about it, bring it up, because this is something different,” the local woman told NBC6.
