Another Child, 2, Dropped by Smuggler Over Border Wall: CBP Video

Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke of the San Diego area published a distressing video of a smuggler dropping a 2-year-old child from an 18 feet high border wall to the child’s father, who was standing at mid-altitude on a concrete structure.

Heitke said that the incident occurred on Sunday and that, luckily, the child wasn’t hurt.

“Sunday, #BorderPatrol agents witnessed a smuggler drop a two-year-old child from atop the 18-foot-high border wall into the arms of the child’s father,” wrote Heitke. “This event could have been catastrophic. Luckily, the child was not injured.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released an operational update last week, which stated that more than 172,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended in March along the Southwest border.

Compared to February, March has seen a 100 percent increase of unaccompanied minors from Central America—18,890, the agency stated.

Additionally, Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero of the Rio Grande sector published two shocking photos, showing a lot of people stuffed in under boards in a trailer.

“An inspection located 2 children (ages 10 and 15) trapped under the trailer boards with 18 adults,” Skero wrote.

“With temperatures on the rise, smuggling attempts like these have a high potential to turn deadly.”

The chief patrol agent didn’t specify the origin of the illegal immigrants.

The Biden administration is considering sending cash to Central American countries to alleviate economic problems that motivate their citizens to leave for the United States.

Alongside the conditional cash transfer program, they are also considering sending CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus vaccines to those countries, the White House’s southern border coordinator Roberta Jacobson told Reuters.

“We’re looking at all of the productive options to address both the economic reasons people may be migrating, as well as the protection and security reasons,” the White House official said.

The chief patrol agent didn’t specify the origin of the illegal immigrants.

https://www.ntd.com/another-child-2-dropped-by-smuggler-over-border-wall-cbp-video_598405.html

Inspector General Says Capitol Police Response to Jan. 6 Breach Was Obstructed by Senior Official

The inspector general of the Capitol Police has told lawmakers that the forces’ response to the Jan. 6 breach on the U.S. Capitol was fatally obstructed when a senior official instructed officers not to use their most powerful weapons due to a lack of training with the equipment.

Michael A. Bolton, the inspector general for the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP), told a House committee on April 15 that officers were ordered not to use heavy, non-lethal munitions to repel the attack as they feared they would be misused and potentially cause “life-altering injury or death.”

Bolton did not name the official who gave the order but said an assistant chief had told officers not to use weapons such as sting balls and stun grenades, which are commonly used to disperse crowds.

When asked whether the use of such equipment could have prevented the storming of the Capitol, Bolton told committee members: “It certainly would have provided the department a better posture to repel these attacks,” before calling for more training to be provided to officers so that they are used appropriately.

The Inspector General also told the House Administration Committee that the Capitol Police needs to improve its intelligence gathering, training, and operational planning capabilities.

There also needs to be a shift in the way that the force views its own mission, he said.

“In regards to a cultural change, we see that the department needs to move away from the thought process as a traditional police department and move to the posture of a protective agency,” Bolton said.

“A police department is geared to be a reactive force, for the most part. Whereas a protective agency is postured, in their training and planning, to be proactive to prevent events such as January 6th.”

The inspector general appeared before the committee after he released a 104-page internal report on Capitol Police preparedness for the Jan. 6 breach.

In the report, Bolton said Capitol Police were ill-prepared for the events on Jan. 6, had faulty equipment, and did not share intelligence.

“USCP failed to disseminate relevant information obtained from outside sources, lacked consensus on the interpretation of threat analyses, and disseminated conflicting intelligence information regarding planned events for January 6, 2021,” the report reads.

According to Bolton’s report, an operation plan released Jan. 5, the day before the attack, said, “At this time there are specific known threats related to the Joint Session of Congress—Electoral College Vote Certification.”

“While a prior version of Special Event Assessment 21-A-0468, dated December 16, 2020, contains the exact same statement and updated versions of the assessment published later that month contain similar language, the final version dated January 3, 2021, does not contain that statement.”

https://www.ntd.com/inspector-general-says-capitol-police-response-to-jan-6-breach-was-obstructed-by-senior-official_598526.html

House Will Vote on Whether to Make Washington D.C. a State Tuesday

The House of Representatives will vote Tuesday on whether to make Washington, D.C., a State.

The House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), voted the bill, H.R. 51, out of committee by a vote of 25-19 to create D.C. statehood Wednesday.

House moving to put D.C. statehood bill on the floor NEXT WEEK pic.twitter.com/F8rhGuaeeW

— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) April 16, 2021

The ultimate argument seems to be whether the 23rd Amendment guarantees the federal Capitol at least three electors in presidential elections, Rep. Any Biggs (R-AZ) suggested Wednesday.

Biggs’ view is supported by legal scholars, who opposed D.C. statehood’s feasibility without a Constitutional amendment to the 23rd Amendment. The Office of Legal Counsel in 2007 believed it was unconstitutional, the Justice Department under former President Reagan and former President Carter stated the transformation was unconstitutional, and so did Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, when he sat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Additionally, twenty-two state Attorneys General sent a letter Tuesday to President Joe Biden and Congress arguing Washington, D.C., cannot transition into a state via legislation, but only through the method of a Constitutional amendment.

Opposition to D.C. statehood is argued on three classical points:

Our nation’s capital was always meant to be unique. The founders wanted it to be a federal district, existing beyond the confines or influence of any one state.

H.R. 51 would require Congress to ignore the plain command of the 23rd Amendment.

Even those who support D.C. statehood admit district residents enjoy special benefits due to where they live and would enjoy an outsize influence in Congress.

The legislation is among those radical proposals the Democrats introduced in Biden’s first 100 days include: packing the courts, amnesty, reparations, federalized elections, D.C. statehood, and banning the Electoral College.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/04/16/house-will-vote-make-washington-state-tuesday/

21 Dead, 3 Survivors After Mediterranean Migrant Boat Sinks

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) – Tunisian authorities said they recovered the bodies of 21 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, including nine women and a baby, whose boat sank Friday off the central port city of Sfax. The cause of the sinking was unclear.

Commander Housemeddine Jebabli, of the National Guard, told The Associated Press there were only three survivors, who were rescued by the coast guard with the help of civil protection divers.

Jebabli said that authorities are continuing to search the area of the sinking, as there are indications that 17 people could be missing.

Jebabli said a survivor told him that the boat had 41 migrants on board, who had set off the day before from Sfax in hope of reaching the Italian coast.

The port city has become a common exit point for Europe-bound migrants escaping conflict or poor living conditions.

Last month, on March 9, two boats ran aground in the same area killing 39 people, while 165 migrants were rescued. Most were sub-Saharan nationals.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/04/16/21-dead-3-survivors-after-mediterranean-migrant-boat-sinks/

Texas Congressman Unveils Bill to Designate Certain Mexican Cartels as Terrorist Organizations

Texas Congressman Chip Roy (R) is expected to file a bill that would designate the most violent cartels in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations. The bill comes amid Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s similar requests for the designations.

The bill would focus on the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas and the Metros faction of the Gulf Cartel; the two main criminal organizations linked to the current immigration surge at the Texas border. In 2019 Roy also called for a similar measure asking the U.S. Department of State to designate certain cartels. The changes would allow for more asset freezes and apply diplomatic pressure on Mexico City to crack down on the organizations.

According to a series of exclusive interviews with Roy during a series of border trips, the Gulf Cartel and the CDN faction of Los Zetas have profited from the current border crisis while kidnapping, extorting. and abusing migrants.

Both the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel are linked to mass graves and clandestine incineration sites in Mexico.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/04/16/texas-congressman-unveils-bill-to-designate-certain-mexican-cartels-as-terrorist-organizations/

With New Backing From the West, Ukrainian President Says ‘The Army Is Ready’

The same day that U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order leveling new sanctions against Russia and expelling ten of its diplomats, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky participated in a session of the National Security and Defense Council and afterward said concerning its deliberations: “I can’t reveal the details. The situation in Donbas is now under control. Indeed, there are certain issues. We are ready to address these issues. The Army is ready – that’s the most important thing.”

His foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, at a press conference following a meeting with his counterparts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, spoke in a comparably intransigent tone, asserting the “state border is Ukraine’s ‘red line,’” and should Russia cross the border “there must be consequences.”

Zelensky and Kuleba, and other Ukrainian officials who have recently raised the specters of developing nuclear weapons and even of World War III, are emboldened to speak – and act – in the reckless manner they are because they are assured of the “the full weight of the transatlantic alliance” deployed against Russia, as the top commander of NATO and U.S. European Command recently confirmed. His pledge was heard clearly in Kiev.

In a letter submitted to Congress today, Biden’s unambiguous words that Russia is guilty, in addition to at least a half a dozen other transgressions, of concerted efforts “to violate well-established principles of international law, including respect for the territorial integrity of states,” and that those activities “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States” were also heard in Kiev. In fact the headlines of English-language Ukrainian publications are mainly on Biden – and NATO – attacking Russia on all fronts. The letter quoted from prefaces an executive order effecting the above-mentioned sanctions and and expulsions under the justification of what Biden deems a national emergency. That Ukraine’s war with the Donetsk and Lugansk republics in the Donbass is described as part, the major part, of a national emergency in a nation that is currently deliberating over a proposed $753 billion defense budget must be of great solace to Zelensky and his army.

Ukraine’s Join Forces Operation Command, from 2014-2018 the Anti-Terrorist Operation, is in charge of the war in and against the Donbass. In fact the Donbass was until the latter year referred to by the Ukrainian military as the Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone. How the residents of Donetsk and Lugansk would be treated at the hands of the renamed Anti-Terrorist Operation should be obvious.

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/04/15/with-new-backing-from-the-west-ukrainian-president-says-the-army-is-ready/

GOP Leaders Say Joe Biden Is Aiding Drug Cartels

The nation’s epidemic of drug deaths is being worsened by President Joe Biden’s refusal to guard the border, Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters on Thursday.

“The amount of fentanyl seized this year increased by an alarming rate of 233 percent from the same period last year,” McCarthy said at the April 15 press conference, adding:

When I was at Monument Three, in El Paso, looking just down the fencing there, the [border] agents told us that they’ve never seen so much fentanyl as they have during the last month. Now fentanyl is considered to be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and if altered, becomes even deadlier.

We all know last year that 90,000 Americans died from drug overdoses. How many more will die based upon what has happened on our border?

Now instead of bolstering our security to counter these serious vulnerabilities, the massive flow of migrants has actually weakened our security along the border.

If you traveled there, you would get a clear feeling and understanding. If you just look at the Rio Grande Valley, 40 percent of the agents who normally would be securing the border, are not even on the border anymore because they are pulled off the regular patrols to take care of [migrant] families and children. So with all the families and children coming in, the border is even less secure because fewer [border officers] can be there to protect us, because now they’re caring for the children.

“We have a crisis on our border that we have not seen in more than 20 years, not created in any other way but a change in administration,” McCarthy added.

“What’s happening now is the drug cartels are running America’s southern border,” said Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the GOP’s House whip, who echoed McCarthy’s comments on Thursday. “They’re making millions of dollars a day off of this enterprise that was created by President Biden’s executive actions, and [U.S. border agents] don’t want to be at midnight changing diapers when instead they could be stopping fentanyl and heroin from coming into America’s border.”

The comments from the two GOP leaders came on the same day the Wall Street Journal reported the growing deaths from fentanyl overdoses:

Long a scourge on the East Coast, fentanyl is now driving a rapid increase in overdose deaths in the Western U.S.

In the Seattle area, overdose deaths involving fentanyl were up 57% in 2020 over the previous year, according to data from the county medical examiner. Preliminary data show deaths from synthetic opioids like fentanyl rose 162% in the Las Vegas area last year. In Los Angeles County, a recent report blamed fentanyl for a 26% jump in overdose deaths among the homeless population during the first seven months of 2020.

[…]

Fentanyl in the U.S. is often made by Mexican cartels using precursor chemicals from China, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. It took off in the East faster, in part because of the region’s longstanding problem with opioids. The West has historically been a bigger methamphetamine market, but the cartels are now aggressively pushing fentanyl there, too, often in the form of fake pain pills, said Wade Shannon, special agent in charge of the DEA’s San Francisco office.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/04/16/gop-leaders-say-biden-is-aiding-cartel-drug-dealers/

George W. Bush Renews Amnesty Push for Illegal Immigrants

Former President George W. Bush urged Americans Friday to join him in supporting widespread amnesty for illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children and those living in the country illegally.

“Americans who favor a path to citizenship for those brought here as children, known as ‘dreamers,’ are not advocating open borders,” Bush wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.

Bush pointed to former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) amnesty program and called for a permanent amnesty for recipients.

Bush argued DACA recipients were “fundamentally American” and did not know any other home than the United States.

“They ought not be punished for choices made by their parents,” he wrote.

Bush is on a media tour promoting Out of Many, One, his book of stories and paintings of immigrant Americans.

He said that amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants in the United States would “fundamentally unfair” but still supported amnesty for illegals who “earned” citizenship.

He proposed amnesty for illegal immigrants in the United States who had proof of work history, paid a fine and back taxes, the ability to speak English, possessed knowledge of American history, and passed a criminal background check.

“The United States is better off when talented people bring their ideas and aspirations here,” he wrote.

The former president also called for increasing legal immigration, calling it “a choice that both parties should be able to get behind” and proposed also increasing temporary immigrant visas for seasonal work.

Bush tried to pass widespread amnesty for illegal immigrants in 2007 with the support of late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).

But the bill failed miserably in the Senate after only 33 Senate Democrats, 12 Senate Republicans, and one independent voted to support the bill. Fifteen Senate Democrats joined 37 Senate Republicans and one independent in voting against it.

In a recent interview with Norah O’Donnell, Bush agreed that failure to pass immigration reform was one of the biggest disappointments of his presidency.

“I campaigned on immigration reform,” he said. “I made it abundantly clear to voters this is something I intended to do.”

https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2021/04/16/george-w-bush-renews-amnesty-push-illegal-immigrants/

Hospitals In Cuomo’s State Denied Lifesaving Drug To People Dying Of COVID After It Showed Amazing Promise

Courts in New York had to step in to order hospitals to administer a drug that likely saved the life of people dying of complications from COVID-19.

The drug called Ivermectin, a commonly used drug to treat parasitic infections, has been shown in 50 studies, 26 of them randomized controlled trials, to have an incredibly high rate of success in treating COVID and its inflammatory response in the immune system at all stages of the virus with no side effects.

John Swanson, 81, of Genesee County, New York, like so many elderly Americans, was given no legitimate preventive or early treatment options for this now very predictable inflammatory response to COVID-19. He wound up on a ventilator at the United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia and, according to the court affidavit, was “on death’s doorstep.” The Buffalo News reports that, according to attorney Ralph C. Lorigo, Swanson was given one dose of ivermectin and began breathing on his own, was then taken off the ventilator, and began to show great progress. However, the hospital, with no other legitimate treatment options to offer, refused to give him follow-up doses.

On April 2, state Supreme Court Justice Frederick J. Marshall ordered the hospital to administer the follow-up doses at the request of Swanson’s wife.

As of late Friday afternoon, his attorneys described Swanson as “stable.”

“I definitely think the Ivermectin is helping him,” Sandra Swanson told The Buffalo News, but she said she is upset and frustrated that hospital officials would not allow her to visit with her husband.

“They held the phone to his ear, and I read him a long list of people who are praying for him every day, about 20 people,” she said. “But I need to see him.”

There have been at least two other instances where New York judges had to force local hospitals to administer lifesaving treatment to those who appeared on their way to death.

It is shocking how 13 months into this pandemic, the medical profession has nothing to offer but a ventilator, keeping loved ones away from seeing the patient, and blocking the only known lifesaving treatments.

What is even more bewildering is the fact that the World Health Organization’s own data show that early-use ivermectin is even more effective, reducing mortality by 81%. Were every vulnerable person to use it preventively, one can only speculate that the results would be even better, because the key to fighting the inflammatory response is to pre-empt it from getting off the ground.

https://en-volve.com/2021/04/16/scandal-hospitals-in-cuomos-state-denied-lifesaving-drug-to-people-dying-of-covid-after-it-showed-amazing-promise/

'They're all on the same team': Twitter is slammed for 'protecting' CNN after Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe is banned from the site days after publishing expose on network's liberal bias

Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe has announced he will sue Twitter for defamation, after the social network permanently blocked his account and accused him of operating fake accounts.

O'Keefe, 36, had his account closed on Thursday.

The day before, he had published another embarrassing clip of a CNN camera director, Charlie Chester, on a Tinder date with an undercover operative discussing his employer's attitudes towards Donald Trump and Matt Gaetz.

Project Veritas, the media watchdog which O'Keefe founded, said it was proof of the network's bias.

Twitter said on Thursday that 'The account you referenced (@JamesOKeefeIII) was permanently suspended for violating the Twitter Rules on manipulation and spam.

'As outlined in our policy on platform manipulation and spam, 'You can't mislead others on Twitter by operating fake accounts,' and 'you can't artificially amplify or disrupt conversations through the use of multiple accounts.''

O'Keefe said he would sue the company.

'I am suing Twitter for defamation because they said I, James O'Keefe, 'operated fake accounts.'

'This is false, this is defamatory, and they will pay. Section 230 may have protected them before, but it will not protect them from me.

'The complaint will be filed Monday.'

Donald Trump Jr was among those to criticize Twitter's decision to suspend O'Keefe's account, after O'Keefe's organization showed the senior CNN figure discussing how they set out to discredit his father.

'In case you haven't figured out how it works by now… @CNN spreads propaganda to elect Democrats. And then @Twitter runs interference to protect CNN. They're all on the same team,' he tweeted.

In a follow up tweet, he wrote: 'At this point, both CNN and Twitter should have to register with the FEC as Democrat Super PACs.'

Chester told Project Veritas's operative: 'Look what we did, we got Trump out.

'I am 100 percent going to say it, and I 100 percent believe that if it wasn't for CNN, I don't know that Trump would have got voted out.

'I came to CNN because I wanted to be a part of that.'

http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2021/04/theyre-all-on-same-team-twitter-is.html

AG: 90+ people arrested in human trafficking sting ‘Operation 614’

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has announced the success of a multi-agency sex trafficking sting dubbed ‘Operation 614.’

The operation took place Wednesday and Thursday and netted 93 people who allegedly sought to purchase sex. The Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force handled the arrests of those allegedly trying to pay for sex with minors.

The Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was proud to play a role in ‘Operation 614.’ The 2-day statewide operation included identifying victims of human trafficking and referring them to social services and arresting male suspects seeking sex with minors pic.twitter.com/MkOn4T6Rp7

— Franklin County Sheriff’s Office (@OHFCSO) April 16, 2021

Engaging in prostitution is a first-degree misdemeanor, and under a new Ohio law an offender is required to attend an anti-prostitution education or treatment program.

Reynoldsburg Police report that detectives were contacted by 225 people responding to online ads. They say 15 men responded in person and were arrested for allegedly soliciting for prostitution.

In addition to the arrests, officials say 53 victims of human trafficking were identified and referred to social services.

Human trafficking is a heinous crime and a morally reprehensible act that deprives a person of their liberty and dignity for another person’s gain. The task force strives to establish a relationship of trust with all victims and is committed to eradicating all forms of human trafficking in Central Ohio.

Sgt. Dana Hess, Director of the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force

Federal, state, and local law enforcement participated in the operation, according to Yost. The Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force is made up of the following agencies:

The Columbus Division of Police, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Adult Parole Authority, Powell Police Department, Salvation Army, Southeast Mental Health Addiction Services and Franklin County Hope Task Force.

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/ag-90-people-arrested-in-human-trafficking-sting-operation-614/

Osage County deputies arrest child trafficking suspect

Osage County authorities say they have arrested a Missouri man on suspicion of child trafficking.

Osage County Sheriff Chris Wells says investigators have been conducting an ongoing investigation into online solicitation of a child by an adult. On Thursday, the agency's Criminal Investigation Unit arrested 49-year-old David Fresia of Lee's Summit, Missouri after he allegedly made plans to meet with someone he thought was a minor.

Fresia was booked on suspicion of aggravated human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of a child, possession of both marijuana and psilocybin with intent to distribute and other drug-related activity. Formal charges are pending.

http://www.kvoe.com/news/item/53656-osage-county-deputies-arrest-child-trafficking-suspect

Myrtle Beach man accused of trafficking two teenage girls for sex in Brunswick County

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - A South Carolina man is facing multiple child sex crime charges including trafficking two teenage girls following his arrest in Brunswick County.

Brett Nathanial Kennedy, 30, of Myrtle Beach, was taken into custody on Thursday and charged with two counts of human trafficking a child victim, first-degree kidnapping, second-degree kidnapping, statutory rape of a child, statutory sex offense with a child, indecent liberties with a child, and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

According to arrest warrants, Kennedy did “knowingly recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, or obtain” two 14-year-old girls for the purpose of holding them in involuntary or sexual servitude. Kennedy also is accused of encouraging the victims to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana, the warrants state.

The alleged offenses occurred between April 7-8.

We’ve reached out to the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office seeking more details about the case and will update this report when that information is provided.

He’s currently in the Brunswick County Detention Center under a $1 million bond.

https://www.wect.com/2021/04/16/myrtle-beach-man-accused-trafficking-two-teenage-girls-sex-brunswick-county/

Anchorage Man Convicted on All Counts of Sex Trafficking Minors, Child Pornography and Illegal Possession of a Firearm

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ak/pr/anchorage-man-convicted-all-counts-sex-trafficking-minors-child-pornography-and-illegal

Inmate Sentenced for Leading Drug and Sex Trafficking Ring from California Prison Cell

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/inmate-sentenced-leading-drug-and-sex-trafficking-ring-california-prison-cell

Haiti’s PM Resigns Following Kidnappings, Violence and Protests

The Prime Minister of Haiti, Joseph Jouthe, announced on Wednesday his resignation amid a growing wave of crime, including kidnappings for ransom, and a longstanding political crisis.

Just this week a gang asked for a US$ 1 million ransom for five Catholic priests and two nuns who were abducted in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince. Another gang broke into an orphanage, killed a guard and sexually assaulted two children.

The island has also seen protests erupting in the capital and other provinces in the past months. Thousands of citizens took to the streets to protest against President Jovenel Moïse, accusing him of turning the country into a dictatorship while not managing the crisis.

Jouthe announced his decision to step down as prime minister via Twitter without offering any details as to why he is resigning.

“It has been an honor to serve my country as prime minister. I thank the members of my government, the technical and financial partners for their collaboration,” Jouthe wrote.

Shortly after the announcement, President Moïse appointed Claude Joseph as interim prime minister and said the government is mobilizing resources to tackle criminality.

The Caribbean country has seen a surge of kidnappings, violence and protests in recent months. In March, armed men kidnapped a pastor and three people during a religious ceremony streamed via Facebook and Youtube. The hostages were reportedly released days later after a ransom was paid.

Before his resignation, Jouthe deployed more police officers to neglected areas outside the capital which had become easy targets for criminals.

The deteriorating security situation in Haiti has raised concerns internationally. This week, the Organization of American States (OAS) urged the government to protect the population and combat the growing violence.

Moïse has ruled Haiti by decree for more than a year because the country has been without a parliament since early 2020 due to election delays.

The Haitian president has said he plans to hold a constitutional referendum in June this year, while the overdue legislative elections are expected to be held in September.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/14246-haiti-s-pm-resigns-following-kidnappings-violence-and-protests