Haiti’s epidemic of gang violence has worsened just as donors such as Switzerland cut their aid budgets. As an expanded international military mission prepares to deploy, the question is whether tougher security measures can finally break the downward spiral. Each time Diego Da Rin visits the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, he sees the latest scars from the city's gang wars, with buildings newly blown up and roads destroyed. “You see the aftermath of intense clashes between gangs and the security forces,” said the Haiti expert for the International Crisis Group think tank. “The gangs have put up barricades to completely block access to the neighbourhoods they control.” These are no-go zones for police, with gunmen lying in wait in ditches dug around abandoned buildings or on lookout from upper floors. Residents – over 1.4 million of them – have been forced to flee to avoid kidnappings, rape and murder. For years Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, has been ...
