A contingent of 150 Guatemalan soldiers has arrived in Haiti, with the mission of helping restore order amid the chaos caused by armed gangs.
A first group of 75 soldiers arrived on Friday and another 75 on Saturday, all of them military police, according to the Guatemalan government.
A state of emergency has been imposed across the Caribbean nation for months as the government battles violent gangs that have seized control of much of Port-au-Prince.
The troops are deployed in Haiti to reinforce a UN-backed security mission led by Kenya that has so far failed to prevent an escalation in violence.
Kenya sent nearly 400 police officers in June and July last year to help combat gangs.
This was the first batch of the international force approved by the United Nations, which will consist of 2,500 officers from various countries.
A small number of troops from Jamaica, Belize and El Salvador are also in Haiti as part of the mission and the United States is the largest funder of the operation.
In March 2024, Armed gangs stormed the two largest prisons in HaitiAbout 3,700 prisoners were released.
The Western Region – a region that includes the capital, Port-au-Prince – was placed under a state of emergency on March 3, after Escalating violence swept the capital.
Chronic instability, dictatorships, and natural disasters in recent decades have made Haiti the poorest country in the Americas.
In 2021, President Jovenel Moise was assassinated By unknown gunmen in Port-au-Prince.
Since then, the country has been plagued by economic chaos, weak political control and increasingly violent guerrilla warfare.
