Of course...

American guns fuel Haiti crisis

BY BRAD DRESS - 03/30/24 6:00 AM ET

The crisis in Haiti over gangs who have overrun the country and outmatched security forces is fueled in part by a major, illegal flow of U.S. guns to the Caribbean nation, a longstanding problem that has only grown worse despite efforts from the Biden administration to tackle it.

The gangs running amok on the island are armed with powerful American-made weapons, including .50 caliber sniper rifles and semiautomatic AR-15 rifles, along with small arms like handguns.

The Biden administration has worked to crack down on the problems, but with Haiti’s porous borders and little government control, hundreds of thousands of illegal guns are thought to be circulating there.

Romain Le Cour, a senior expert at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, said smugglers have been “literally pouring weapons into Haiti” for years, a situation he described as getting worse even during the ongoing disaster, which has limited imports.

“It is honestly outrageous to see a country and a city under total and absolute lockdown at war for a month, and there is absolutely no sign of shortage of weapons or ammunition,” Le Cour said. “The weapons keep coming in, it’s a never-ending story. We have to take care of the arms trafficking in Haiti, it’s extremely urgent...”

Complete article:

https://thehill.com/policy/int...n-guns-haiti-crisis/