Haitian prime minister forced to flee after gunfire on weekend visit

BOGOTA, Colombia

Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry was attacked by an armed group as he was walking out of a cathedral on Saturday in the city of Gonaives after attending a mass to commemorate the 218th anniversary of the country's independence.

According to local media, one person died and two were injured in the shootout that broke out as Henry and his entourage were leaving the parish of Saint Charles de Borome.

A video posted on social media shows the official delegation being shot, while the security forces hurriedly removed the prime minister from the place. There were no worshippers inside the building, only local authorities and the government delegation.

The religious ceremony was held despite threats from the armed group, which warned Henry not to show up in the city.

The prime minister thanked the religious authorities “who, in spite of the situation of tension which reigned in the city, made the duty, within the framework of the celebration of the 218th anniversary of national independence, to sing the traditional Te Deum,” he published on his Twitter account on Sunday.

“Today, our enemies, the enemies of the Haitian people, are the terrorists who do not hesitate to use violence to kill people with all their might, or to kidnap, to take away their freedom, to rape. And do everything for money,” Henry said in a statement in Haitian Creole.

Henry was unable to attend the events planned for that day including giving a speech at a public plaza in the city.

Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in June, tensions have been rising amid criminal gang violence, shortages of fuel, increases in food prices and a political vacuum that has plunged the country into political and social turmoil.