All seven Bahamian diplomats, including the charge d’affaires’ spouse, were reportedly airlifted out of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Friday and have since safely landed in the Dominican Republic, according to the Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader and Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez were thanked profusely for carrying out this process by Prime Minister Dr. Phillip “Brave” Davis in a statement released late on Friday.
In light of reports of brutal gang killings of police officers and protesters in the French-speaking Caribbean Community member state of Haiti, the Prime Minister issued an order on Thursday directing all Bahamian diplomatic workers there to leave the nation as soon as security permitted.
In protest of a slew of police officer slayings by Haitian gangs, furious rebel police personnel “paralysed” Port-au-Prince during the past few days.
More than a hundred demonstrators stopped roadways this week, fired shots into the air, and forced their way through gates at the airport and the Prime Minister’s residence in the city.
Following the assassination of Haiti’s president Jovenel Mose by armed men in his home in July 2021, there was a protracted period of violence and unrest in the country.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a team from The Bahamas will be dispatched back into Haiti without further notice whenever circumstances improve.