The Varreux terminal, located southwest of the capital Port-au-Prince, fell into the hands of a gang on September 12. The clashes continue on the spot.
Le Monde with AFP
The Haiti National Police announced, Friday, November 4, having regained control of the country’s largest oil terminal, previously in the hands of gangs. But clashes were still underway in the sector, according to two concordant sources.
“The police carried out an operation between Wednesday and Thursday in order to allow the resumption of activities in the main petroleum terminal which was taken hostage by armed men,” wrote the national police of Haiti on his account Facebook, photographs of his presence on the place in support. “Several police units have been deployed using armored vehicles to dislodge the bandits” from the Varreux terminal, in Port-au-Prince, added the police.
In the photos and video of its operations, we see light armored vehicles and men in uniform on the terminal site where huge white circular tanks are eating.
However, “the operation continues,” said a police source at AFP on Friday. “The clashes have continued between the police and the bandits,” confirmed a source close to the company that manages the site.
shortage of drinking water
The Varreux oil terminal, located southwest of the capital Port-au-Prince, provides most of the petroleum products consumed in Haiti. He had fallen into the hands of the gang leader Jimmy Chérizier, nicknamed “Barbecue”, on September 12.
The blocking of infrastructure had since led to a quasi-paralysia of the country, aggravating the security, political and humanitarian crisis in this poor country of the Caribbean.
The lack of fuel has also interrupted the distribution of drinking water, crucial in the fight against cholera, whose cases recently exploded in Haiti.
Discussions are underway at the United Nations concerning a possible sending of an international armed force in the country, after an appeal to this sense of the Haitian government.