Haitian police announced Tuesday that they have retaken control of a major telecommunications hub outside Port-au-Prince, a rare victory against heavily armed gangs that have seized swaths of the capital and disrupted essential services.
The operation at the Téléco site in Kenscoff began before dawn Monday and lasted about two hours, according to Michel-Ange Louis Jeune, spokesperson for Haiti’s National Police. He said officers recovered several automatic weapons with scratched-off serial numbers, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and secured the site without disclosing casualties.
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“This is a strong message that the new police chief sent,” Jeune said, referring to André Jonas Vladimir Paraison, who was appointed earlier this month. “When the population is sleeping, the police are not sleeping. They are working to ensure that people can sleep.”
The gangs’ brief occupation of Téléco disrupted air traffic and internet connections, underscoring the vulnerability of Haiti’s infrastructure. In videos released last week, gunmen were seen dismantling servers and threatening to “burn the whole system” if the government did not respond to their ultimatum. The attack was attributed to Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang federation designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. earlier this year.
Haiti’s civil aviation agency later said the seizure caused only minor interruptions after emergency measures were put in place. Still, the raid highlighted the gangs’ reach: last year, Viv Ansanm was linked to the forced closure of Haiti’s main international airport and the mass prison break that freed some 4,000 inmates.
At Tuesday’s press briefing, Godfrey Otunge, the Kenyan commander leading the UN-backed multinational force, urged Haitians to remain hopeful. “Be patient; you will see results,” he said, as police pledged more raids in gang-held neighborhoods.
Téléco is located near an orphanage where gangs kidnapped eight people earlier this month, including an Irish missionary and a 3-year-old child, who remain missing. Kenscoff, once considered a refuge from Port-au-Prince’s violence, has been targeted repeatedly this year as gangs seek to expand control.
Despite the successful operation, gangs are still estimated to control nearly 90 percent of Port-au-Prince, leaving Haiti’s police and their international partners facing an uphill battle to restore stability.
