Haiti's capital is in darkness after residents attack hydroelectric plant

Haiti's Port-au-Prince, the capital city of Haiti, was left in darkness on Wednesday as residents from a nearby village stormed and shut down a dam in protest of government inaction against gang violence.

According to U.N. estimations, gangs have tightened the grip on Haiti. A record number of 1.3 million people were displaced over the last six months.

Local media reported on Tuesday that residents from the town of Mirebalais in the middle of Haiti, north of Port-au-Prince marched into the hydroelectric power plant and shut it down.

Social media videos and photos, which were not immediately verified, showed the men entering the building. Apparently, they also toppled a transmission tower.

Haiti's interim government did not respond immediately to a comment request.

Local media reported that the outburst occurred after authorities and gangs had fought in Mirebalais, earlier in the day. Gangs captured a security car and set it on fire. Images of the incident could not be verified immediately.

It would be the second instance in the last few months that residents have forcedly closed the hydroelectric facility. In May, Alix Didier fils-Aime, the interim prime minister of France, promised to take swift action in order to prevent a repeat of this incident.

Haitians are becoming increasingly frustrated as the government fails to deliver the promises it made to stabilize the country, which is without a president after Jovenel Moisé was assassinated 2021.

The U.N.-backed Kenyan-led security mission in the country has also failed to address the crisis.

The United States and Colombia have proposed deploying troops via the Organization of American States. (Reporting and editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Kylie Madry, Harold Isaac)

(source: Reuters)