MIAMI (OSV News) — As violence and instability ravage Haiti — with armed gangs controlling some 80% of the nation’s capital, scores dead and millions at risk for food insecurity — two U.S. bishops are urging awareness and action by the global community to assist Haitians in restoring peace. “We’re at a critical junction,” Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami told OSV News. “It’s a time in which we hope against hope that the Haitian people will be able to resolve some of their differences, and start building back a society that is peaceful and that promotes justice for all citizens.” In a March 15 statement, Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, appealed for prayers for Haiti. He urged the U.S. government and the international community to continue actively to address the country’s long-term challenges. “This is an unlivable situation for the people of Haiti, where families are unable to provide basic necessities for their loved ones,” he said. An estimated 80% of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, is currently under the control of armed gangs, a number of which recently began targeting state institutions, including prisons, police stations and the main international airport.
