Dozens of people were running in one hand and barely anything else when Venique opened the door at 6 a.m.
She and her three kids fled their neighborhood in Haiti's capital as fires burned nearby, collapsing homes and the bodies of nearly 200 men, women and children were found alongside skulls and bones.
Mo said that he felt that he was going to die when the war started.
The capital of Port-au-Prince is being seized by gangs with a new intensity and brutality. The violence has horrified many who feel the country is quickly unraveling as it tries to recover from the assassination of President Jovenel Moxe.
The amount of territory controlled by the criminals has reached levels not seen before, according to experts.
Gangs have forced schools, businesses and hospitals to close as they raid new neighborhoods, seize control of the main roads connecting the capital to the rest of the country and kidnap victims daily, including eight Turkish citizens still held captive, authorities say.
The gangs are trying to take over more territory for economic and political gain ahead of the country's general elections, and they are recruiting more children than before.
He told The Associated Press that gang battles are becoming more and more ruthless.
Between April 24 and May 16 of this year, at least 92 civilians and 96 suspected gang members were killed, with another 113 injured, 12 missing and 49 kidnapped for ransom, according to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The office warned that the number of people killed may be much higher.
Gangs raped children as young as 10 and set fire to at least a dozen homes, forcing some 9,000 people to flee and seek temporary shelter in churches, public parks and shuttered schools, U.N. officials said.
Some victims were decapitated and others were thrown into wells. Pictures of gruesome scenes were posted on social media by gangs. According to the network, most women and girls were killed after being raped.
In a May 17 statement, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said that armed violence has reached intolerable levels in Haiti.
The lack of access to basic things like water, food and medicine is a growing concern in Haiti because people remain trapped in certain areas while gangs continue to fight.
The strangulation of Port-au-Prince has forced the UN to use a helicopter and a boat to reach those most in need.
Doctors Without Borders reported that it treated nearly 100 people for gunshot wounds from April 24 to May 7 and that it had to reopen a clinic because it was too thin.
Frantz Elb, Haiti's new police chief, said dozens of gang members have been arrested and another 94 killed in clashes with police since he took over the department six months ago. Over 5,000 suspects have been accused of crimes.
He promised in a May 9 news conference that he would continue to track down the criminals.
There were at least 48 killings in the neighborhood of Butte Boyer, which was the location of a family fleeing in late April.
The 44-year-old is sleeping on the concrete floor of a crowded shelter with no mattresses in an unsanitary environment while her children stay at a friend's home.
She said that it isn't big enough to shelter all of us. Civil protection is not available. There aren't any authorities. Police are here today and will be gone tomorrow.
More than half a million children are without an education, with the director of some schools unable to keep paying gangs, because of the spike in gang violence. Maes said that efforts are underway to set up a radio station dedicated to broadcasting classes.
Children who are willing to learn and teachers who are willing to teach can't do it because they feel unsafe.
Hundreds of Haitians have fled their country due to the violence and kidnappings. At least 11 Haitians died and 36 others were rescued when their boat overturned near Puerto Rico. Dozens of people have died at sea in recent months.
The lack of housing for the estimated 9,000 families recently forced to flee their homes, as well as the estimated 20,000 others who are still living in overcrowded, dirty government shelters, is a concern. The country is struggling to help roughly 20,000 Haitians who have been deported by the U.S. President Joe Biden.
The smell of charred homes and decaying bodies spread for several blocks as AP journalists visited the Butte Boyer neighborhood, where police are trying to contain the gang violence. Dogs chewed on the remains.
The walls and gates were written with the word "Mawozo", a testament to the presence of a gang that is believed to have kidnapped the Turkish citizens in early May and 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group last year.
A picture of a man killed in gang violence was nailed to a wooden post and flapped in the wind. The sign said thanks to the government of my country.
Lucitha Gason knows she won't be coming back to the neighborhood again. The explosion of gunfire in late April forced her to leave her home. The owner of a shuttered school recently demanded that she and dozens of other Haitians find another place to sleep.
Gason can't afford to leave the country so she's trying to figure out where to go.
We can't count on the government. We can't count on organizations. She said that they are all making promises that aren't coming through. There is no such thing as what the country can do for you.
There is a
Coto was in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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