A contingent of 150 Guatemalan soldiers has arrived in Haiti with the task of helping restore order amid the chaos caused by armed gangs.
The first group of 75 soldiers arrived on Friday and another 75 on Saturday, all recruited from the military police, according to the Guatemalan government.
A state of emergency is in effect across the Caribbean country for months as the government battles violent gangs that have seized control of much of Port-au-Prince.
The forces are in Haiti to bolster a UN-backed security mission led by Kenya, which has so far failed to prevent an escalation of violence.
Kenya sent nearly 400 police officers in June and July last year to help fight the gangs.
This was the first tranche of international forces approved by the UN which will consist of 2,500 officers from various countries.
Small forces from Jamaica, Belize and El Salvador are also in Haiti as part of the mission, and the US is the largest funder of the operation.
In March 2024. armed gangs stormed the two largest prisons in Haitifreeing about 3700 prisoners.
The Ouest Department – a region including the capital Port-au-Prince – was initially placed under a state of emergency on March 3, after the escalation of violence engulfed the capital.
Chronic instability, dictatorships and natural disasters in recent decades have made Haiti the poorest nation in the Americas.
In 2021 President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in Port-au-Prince.
Since then, the country has been ravaged by economic chaos, poorly functioning political control and increasingly violent gang warfare.
