Hunger in Haiti is reaching famine levels as gangs push life out of the capital and beyond

PORT AU PRINCE – Nearly 6,000 people are hungry in Haiti, and nearly half of the country’s more than 11 million residents are suffering from starvation or worse, as gang violence chokes life in the capital Port-au-Prince and beyond, a new report released Monday said .

According to Integrated Food’s report, the number of Haitians affected by crises, emergencies and famine has increased by 1.2 million over the past year as gang violence disrupts the movement of goods and prevents people from leaving their homes to get food buy security phase classification.

In addition, two million Haitians are suffering from severe hunger, according to the report.

“This is shocking,” said Martine Villeneuve, Haiti director of the nonprofit Action Against Hunger. “We didn’t expect this level. Two million… is huge.”

Villeneuve told the Associated Press that she was also surprised that some of the two million people facing hunger don’t even live in places directly affected by gang violence.

While much of the hunger is directly linked to gang violence, double-digit inflation has also left many Haitians unable to afford what they can afford. Food now accounts for 70% of total household spending.

The cost of a grocery basket has risen more than 11% in the past year, with inflation reaching 30% in July.

In addition, parts of Haiti are still struggling to recover from the August 2021 earthquake, various drought episodes, and Hurricane Matthew, which struck Haiti as a Category 4 storm in 2016.

But most of the hunger is due to gang violence: 80% of Port-au-Prince and the roads leading to and from northern and southern Haiti are controlled by gangs.

From April to June, at least 1,379 people were reportedly killed or injured and another 428 were kidnapped. Additionally, gang violence has left more than 700,000 people homeless in recent years.

“Haiti continues to face a worsening humanitarian crisis, with alarming levels of armed gang violence disrupting daily life, forcing more people to flee their homes and increasing acute food insecurity,” the report said.

People facing famine are living in temporary shelters in the greater Port-au-Prince area, with 70% of people in shelters overall suffering from famine or worse, the report said.

Among them is Joceline St-Louis, a 28-year-old mother of two boys, 5 and 1.

“Food doesn’t come around often,” she said, adding that she relies on others to feed her children.

“When an organization provides food, there is a big struggle,” she said.

St-Louis said she had to take her 1-year-old to a clinic so he could receive peanut butter mixture “so his body doesn’t collapse in my arms.”

“I get so depressed sometimes that sometimes I want to kill the children and myself,” she said in a soft voice, cradling the one-year-old in her arms while the five-year-old played with his friends.

At another shelter nearby, Judeline Auguste, 39, said she relies solely on remittances to feed herself and her 8-year-old boy, but the money is barely enough for a week.

“It’s very rare that I get a meal a day,” she said. “My situation is difficult not because of me, but because of my son. He keeps looking at other people eating and starts crying: ‘Mommy, I’m hungry.’”

There are now people in desperate need of hunger in the northern, central and southern regions of Haiti, as well as in the capital.

Jean Yonel, who fled his home with his family after gangs raided their neighborhood, said there were days when he, his wife and their seven children ate only white rice or spaghetti.

“I can’t take care of these children every day,” Yonel said. “Sometimes we just take a spoonful of food and leave the rest to the children so they don’t die.”

Yonel used to work as a bricklayer, but as construction work dwindles, he is now forced to look for wood to make charcoal. His wife sells second-hand clothes.

On days when she can’t afford a proper meal for her children, she mixes flour with spinach to keep their stomachs from rumbling.