General Discussion

"We are asking the US to give us a chance to live, just give us a chance."

For a country that does not manufacture weapons, a UN report in January found every type of gun was flooding Port-au-Prince: high-powered rifles such as AK-47s, 9mm pistols, sniper rifles and machine guns.

The weapons are fuelling the staggering surge in Haiti's gang-related violence.

There is no exact number for how many trafficked firearms are currently in Haiti.

The UN report said some estimates put it at half a million legal and illegal weapons here as of 2020.

It reported that guns and ammunition were being smuggled in from land, air and sea from US states such as Florida, Texas and Georgia.

There have been seizures in the country's main ports in Port-au-Prince, Port-de-Paix and in Cap-Haitien. Illegal weapons are hidden in shipping containers among toy and clothes donations.

In July 2022, Haitian authorities seized a huge haul of dozens of weapons with 15,000 rounds of ammunition. They were stuffed in a shipment from Florida heading to an Episcopal church in Haiti.'

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68668460