PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Violence has seeped into every corner of Haitian society, once lurking on the capital’s outskirts and targeting the poorest residents, but now it has its grip on everyone from street vendors to doctors to children.
And yet, people find a way to stay alive.
Over the first half of 2024, Associated Press photographers have documented how the violence has affected the capital, Port-au-Prince, as people go about their daily lives, including going to work, school and grocery shopping.
Victims of violence are increasingly seen lying on busy roads.
You may see motorcyclists driving past bodies in the middle of the road or swerving around them on the sidewalk, some taking a quick look while others move on, and it is common to see dogs and other animals nibbling on the remains of bodies left on the road.
Every day, gunfights scatter Haitians, sending them fleeing the streets and hiding behind walls and pillars of nearby buildings for protection as gangs fight over turf.
Gang violence has forced more than half a million people to flee, with tens of thousands trapped in makeshift shelters, including schools.
And yet, people, from young children to the elderly, find moments of hope: smiling, laughing, playing, learning. There are also brief moments of calm, like when a child rests her head on her mother’s lap while her hair is styled in an evacuation center.
Haiti is under siege by gangs that control 80 percent of the capital and whose tentacles stretch beyond Port-au-Prince.
The country now finds itself at a crossroads as it welcomes the fourth major foreign intervention in its history, a Kenyan-led, UN-backed mission that will soon include personnel from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica, totaling 2,500 police and soldiers.
Haitians want a return to normal life and freedom from the clutches of gangs that have killed, raped and injured thousands of people in recent years.
Haiti is also preparing to hold long-awaited elections as it slowly emerges from years of political turmoil that included the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry in April and the installation of a new prime minister and a transitional presidential council.