(Port-au-Prince) Haitian Prime Minister Joseph Guth admitted Wednesday that “strategic mistakes” were made during an anti-guerrilla operation on March 12, in which four police officers were killed.
“I realized that there were strategic errors,” the senior official said during a press conference, after reading an initial report referred to by the directives of the Haitian National Police Force (PNH).
On March 12, the National Freedom Party launched an operation in a neighborhood of the capital known to be used by the gang as a place of kidnapping in order to obtain ransom.
Four policemen were killed in a slum called Village de Dieu. Gang members also confiscated law enforcement equipment.
The prime minister said, “The orders that should have been issued were not issued in a timely manner, which prompted the police to enter the alcove very early.”
“Alors qu’il y avait un blindé à l’intérieur, un autre aurait dû rester à l’extérieur”, a souligné M. Jouthe, indiquant également que “la couverture par drone de la zone aurait dû transmettre au commandement toutes les informations On the ground “.
While police have since recovered an armored vehicle, the bodies of the dead and maimed officers have not been found.
The Prime Minister called for a full investigation to determine responsibility.
“Some did not respect the instructions that were given to them and withheld information by not providing all the information in a timely fashion,” Joseph Goeth said, without further details.
This fiasco-like anti-gang operation, which did not lead to any arrest or seizure of weapons, angered the police and residents, a large part of whom were already critical of the established authority.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister warned that “the killing of police officers should not be used in any political case.”
Some police officers and former members of the National Party for Human Rights, united in a rebel group called the Phantom 509, have staged several violent demonstrations in the capital since mid-March.
A police officer mobilized to prevent such abuse was killed on March 22 by his colleagues affiliated with Fantom 509, according to the first elements of an investigation by the local UN mission.
