A Florida couple’s trip to the Dominican Republic to attend a wedding turned into days of anguish after they left their 2-year-old son with relatives in neighboring Haiti and the boy ended up trapped in the country’s worsening unrest.
After nearly three weeks, the boy, Julien, finally left Haiti and flew back to Florida on Wednesday, where he was reunited with his parents, Philippe-Olivier Armand and his wife, Olivia Turnier.
Their son’s evacuation was part of a growing number of hasty and ad hoc departures from Haiti, which has been rocked by an outbreak of gang violence that has turned parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, into a war zone and closed its main airport .
“It was supposed to be a 48-hour trip and it turned into two and a half weeks of uncertainty and stress,” said Mr. Armand, 36, a Haitian businessman who works in finance and insurance and commutes between Haiti and his home in Miami. . He said they left Julien in Haiti on March 1st.
Julien, along with seven cousins and six other relatives, boarded a helicopter in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday morning that flew them about 120 miles north to Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second-largest city. They were met by a charter plane sent by the Florida Department of Emergency Management, which flew them to Florida.
The US State Department said Thursday it had helped 160 Americans leave Haiti since Sunday, some on flights to the United States and others by helicopter to the Dominican Republic.
The Haitian capital has been wracked by violence since a coalition of gangs launched a coordinated assault on Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s government in late February, raiding police stations and other government buildings, looting hospitals and banks and attacking private homes.
Mr. Henry, who was unable to return to Port-au-Prince after leaving on an official trip and residing in Puerto Rico, agreed to step down once a transitional government was formed. Negotiations on who will be part of this government have been slow.
As part of an international plan to stabilize Haiti, a Kenyan-led, UN-sanctioned mission of 1,000 police officers is supposed to be deployed to the Caribbean nation after an interim government is installed.
Gangs now control key roads in and out of Port-au-Prince and block access to the port, cutting off the city’s food, fuel and water supplies. This week gang members attacked more affluent areas, including the suburb of Pétionville, where many families from abroad live.
As of Tuesday, about 1,000 Americans had filled out “crisis recruitment” forms as part of the process of seeking a way out of the country, according to the State Department, although officials said evacuations would be dictated by security conditions.
The state of Florida is organizing its own departures, with Gov. Ron DeSandis announcing Tuesday that the flight that brought the Armand family from Haiti to Orlando was likely the first of many.
Mr. Armand said the ordeal began when he and several relatives left their children with relatives in Haiti. “All the parents traveled without their children and it turned into a nightmare,” he said.
The family members, Mr. Armand said, were given last-minute instructions on Wednesday morning to go to a dirt field in Pétionville, where the helicopter picked them up.
“It was not easy to find a location to land the helicopter,” said Philippe Armand, Julien’s 75-year-old grandfather, who lives in Miami and used WhatsApp to follow the journey. “It was hush-hush, like a covert operation.”
Logistics were organized with the help of a foundation in Florida run by former National Football League player Jack Brewer.
“Without him, it wouldn’t have happened,” Mr Armand said.
Americans on flights coordinated by the US government must agree to reimburse the government, although the State Department has said the cost will not exceed the price of a commercial flight between the countries.
Mr DeSantis said people traveling on the plane that landed in Florida would not be charged.
With the Port-au-Prince airport closed, evacuations are becoming increasingly dangerous. Trying to get to Cap Haitien requires traveling through roads controlled by gangs who often kidnap drivers and passengers for ransom.
Many Haitians are urging the United States to send military reinforcements to Haiti, and some are upset by the focus on evacuating US citizens and diplomatic personnel from other countries.
“Instead of dealing with the situation, we’re seeing embassies turning people away,” said Reginald Delva, Haiti’s security adviser and former Haitian government minister. “It’s time to focus on the security situation.”
