UN chief visits Haiti as gang violence spikes, new security force

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visited Haiti on Tuesday, witnessing firsthand the devastating humanitarian and security crisis fueled by surging gang violence that has left more than one in ten people homeless. His one-day trip to Port-au-Prince included meetings with displaced families and Haitian officials, as well as a tour of the base for a new international security force set to begin operations in the coming weeks.

New U.N. statistics released during the visit reveal the scale of the violence this year, with 2,300 people killed, another 100 kidnapped, and 1.5 million displaced nationwide. Among the abducted is James Boyard, cabinet director of the Defense Ministry, who was kidnapped last week. The visit followed a weekend in which more than 30 people were killed, injured, or went missing in the Cité Soleil slum, according to a local human rights organization.

Guterres’s convoy passed through neighborhoods scarred by conflict, featuring decimated businesses, abandoned homes, and buildings pockmarked with bullet holes. Graffiti reading “Down with Viv Ansanm, long live the police” referenced a powerful gang federation the U.S. government has designated a...