PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) 鈥� U.N. Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres visited on Tuesday, where surging gang violence has left more than 1 in 10 people homeless.
New statistics released by the U.N. reveal that 2,300 people have been killed across Haiti so far this year, with another 100 kidnapped, while 1.5 million have been displaced. Among those abducted is , cabinet director of the Defense Ministry, who was kidnapped last week in one of the few relatively safe areas of the capital.
Guterres鈥� one-day visit to comes after more than 30 people were killed, injured or missing last weekend in Cit茅 Soleil, a seaside slum, according to Cooperative for Peace and Development, a local human rights organization.
His convoy sped past a neighborhood once fully controlled by gangs that left in their wake decimated car dealerships, abandoned homes and dozens of concrete buildings pockmarked with bullet holes. A colorful bus known as a tap-tap rumbled past, its windshield peppered with bullet holes.
Graffiti scrawled on a crumbling concrete wall read: 鈥淒own with Viv Ansanm, long live the police.鈥� Viv Ansanm is a powerful gang federation that the . It is estimated to control 70% of Port-au-Prince.
Guterres traveled past dozens of Haitians who fled the clashes and now live in makeshift homes under large pieces of canvas strung up with frayed rope.
They are among the more than 300,000 people displaced by gang violence across Port-au-Prince 鈥� a record. Among them are more than 18,000 people who fled the Cit茅 Soleil slum in May, according to the U.N. International Organization for Migration.
鈥淗aiti鈥檚 displacement crisis is entering an even more alarming phase,鈥� Gregoire Goodstein, IOM chief of mission in Haiti, said in a recent statement.
Guterres鈥� first stop was the headquarters of the , which the U.N. Security Council approved in September. It replaces a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police that aimed to help Haiti鈥檚 National Police fight gangs but remained underfunded and understaffed. So far, Jamaica, Chad, El Salvador and Guatemala have deployed troops that number less than 1,000 to form part of the growing force, which is due to start operations in the coming weeks.
They are expected to work with Haiti鈥檚 National Police and its growing Armed Forces, with hundreds of Haitian men and a couple of women lining up on a dusty road hoping to interview to join.
Guterres then met behind closed doors with , who is under pressure to hold elections in the country of nearly 12 million people that hasn鈥檛 had a president since Jovenel Mo茂se in July 2021.
鈥淲e had a frank conversation about what鈥檚 happening in Haiti, the vision the government has for the future,鈥� Fils-Aim茅 told The Associated Press after the meeting.
He said security is a priority so the transitional government can hold elections and 鈥済et back to republican rule.鈥� Fils-Aim茅 added that Guterres can help with that effort by ensuring that the countries backing the gang-suppression force 鈥渓ive up to their engagement.鈥�
鈥榃e don鈥檛 have a life here’
Guterres also stopped by a makeshift shelter in a former school where dozens of the people living there crowded around him.
Forced to flee their homes after gangs shot up their community and set fire to it, some had been living there for up to four years.
鈥淪olino is not ready,鈥� 31-year-old Clifford Lala said of going back to his community. It was one of the last holdouts in Port-au-Prince until gangs overran it.
Guterres ducked into a hot classroom and met privately with a group of six women who decried the lack of privacy at the shelter, even to shower or use the bathroom, and said they worried about their young children.
“It鈥檚 skin-to-skin and mouth-to-mouth,鈥� said one woman.
The shelter houses more than 1,200 people who sleep side by side, and only one meal a day is guaranteed.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to do our best,鈥� Guterres told the women.
Outside, a man began to slap the building鈥檚 metal siding and bellowed, 鈥淲e want to go back home!鈥� His voice grew louder and angrier as security walked into the room and whisked Guterres away.
Wendy Cejour, 26, told the AP that he and his family have been living at the school for a year and a half.
鈥淎s long as we鈥檙e alive we have hope, but 鈥� things are difficult,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e ask … to return to our neighborhood to live better, because we don鈥檛 have a life here.鈥�
A day before Guterres’s visit, Human Rights Watch published a letter urging him to protect the population and target the root causes of violence and human rights abuses. The organization also called for a 鈥渇ull-fledged U.N. mission鈥� in Haiti.
鈥淓ven when fully staffed and resourced, security measures alone will not suffice to address this situation,鈥� the rights group wrote.
鈥淎ny meaningful strategy should include effective protection for victims of violence, credible pathways for disengagement from criminal groups, accountability for abuses, and a coordinated humanitarian response to help restore access to basic goods and services.鈥�
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
