Photos: UN chief visits Haiti to assess security, aid needs
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres arrived on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in Haiti, where he met with Chadian soldiers deployed to the Gang Suppression Force.
jcharles@miamiherald.com
PORT-AU-PRINCE
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres returned to Haiti on Tuesday, his first visit since 2023. What he found was not just a country mired in a worsening humanitarian and security crisis but, according to him, an opportunity for the nation to begin charting a way out.
Doing so, however, will require Haiti’s leaders and the international community — particularly developed countries — to increase their support.
“ There is a real proof that the international community is not fully engaged in support to Haiti,” he said. “And I have to say that when I see the forces coming with the Gang Suppression Force, I have seen Chadians, I have seen Jamaicans, we will be seeing Bangladeshis, I do not see developed countries contributing. And I think it is time for developing countries to start being engaged in this kind of operation because it is important to give a signal that we are all important in today’s world.”
The daylong visit began with a tour of the Gang Suppression Force’s base on the eastern outskirts of Port-au-Prince. He then traveled to the grounds of the National Palace to meet with Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, visited a school now serving as a displacement camp for some of the nearly 1.5 million Haitians uprooted by gang violence, and met with U.N. staff, humanitarian partners and members of Haitian civil society.
Civil society representatives voiced alarm over the recent surge in violence as well as the widespread sexual violence and deteriorating humanitarian conditions Haitians are forced to confront daily.
Here is a look at scenes of the visit by the secretary-general, who traveled aboard a United Nations Support Office helicopter from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince.
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