The Biden administration is urging U.S. citizens in Haiti “to strongly consider returning to the United States” amid a gang-aggravated fuel shortage and a deteriorating security climate in which 17 Christian missionaries, including 16 Americans, have been held hostage for more than three weeks.
The message in a Friday security alert from the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince came as Haiti’s commercial banks and other businesses announced reduced hours starting this week, grocery store owners warned of coming food shortages and the United Nations encouraged employees to stock up on emergency supplies of water, food and other essential items.
A message aligned with the U.N.’s security and contingency planning was sent to all U.N. staff on October 28th strongly advising them to stock at least 14 days of emergency supplies of water, food and necessities and also encouraging Americans to depart Haiti while commercial flights are still available.
While the security situation has been unpredictable for months, the environment has deteriorated rapidly in recent days.
