Bahamas orders evacuation of diplomatic mission in Haiti

All diplomatic personnel will be pulled from Haiti, the Bahamian government has instructed

The head of the diplomatic mission in Port au Prince reported that they had been stopped by Haitian police and relieved of their vehicle and weapons.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement last night that there was a voluntary departure order in place and all staff at the embassy chose to stay.

“Per the new instructions, they are to leave for home as soon as conditions permit…This is only a temporary measure in light of recent developments which require a corporate security and intelligence assessment and restaging.”

“This is part of a protest by the Haitian National Police against their own authorities. All of our diplomats are personally safe. There also is a report of five Bahamians from Bahamasair who landed at Port Au Prince Airport and were unable to leave the environs of the airport. They are all safe and well,” the statement said further

The government said also that the situation in Hiati appears less stable over the past three days in the country, and we are taking steps out of an abundance of caution.

“The security forces in our country have been alerted to these developments. As soon as conditions permit a team will be sent back into Haiti without further announcement,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

All this comes following reports from Haiti that the police there blocked streets and forced their way into the main airport to protest the recent killing of officers by armed gangs.

Media reports out of that country revealed that “protesters in civilian clothes, who identified themselves as police, first attacked Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s official residence and then flooded the airport as he was arriving from a trip to Argentina where he attended the seventh summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)”