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Haitians fear being killed as country prepares for elections<\/h2>\n
Lawyer Francky Cavetan said he does not plan to vote because it\u2019s too risky, but he did visit one registration center out of curiosity.<\/p>\n
\u201cElections are not going to happen because the government and electoral council are lying to the population,\u201d he asserted. \u201cThey are making people believe that elections will bring security, but they have to have security before elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 5,900 people were killed last year across Haiti, and more than 1,600 others from January to March of this year, according to the United Nations. In addition, 5,500 gender-based violent incidents were reported in the first half of the year, with 70% of cases involving rape, many of them gang rapes, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General, recently said.<\/p>\n
Cavetan questioned how candidates would even campaign. He was also upset because he believes a large number of Haitians are not aware that they will also be asked to participate in a referendum the same day as the elections as the government pushes to change the country\u2019s Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not even explaining to people what they\u2019re planning to change in the Constitution,\u201d Cavetan said.<\/p>\n
Da Rin echoed that sentiment, noting that the public still doesn\u2019t know what changes the government is seeking.<\/p>\n
His biggest concern surrounding the elections is safety, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge for the authorities right now is to organize elections without having defeated the gangs and to minimize their influence on the elections as much as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Da Rin noted that longtime links between gangs and certain powerful elites in Haiti are still active.<\/p>\n
Gangs have long been used to intimidate voters or convince them to select certain candidates, as well as to destroy ballot boxes when some members of Haiti\u2019s elite believed that their candidates might not win, Da Rin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGangs have been a very important tool for elites to help their candidates win elections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At a registration center in the community of Laboule, only three people had signed up an hour after doors opened.<\/p>\n
Victor Valensky, a 38-year-old driver of a colorful bus known as a tap-tap, was one of them.<\/p>\n
He said he was angry at his country\u2019s situation but also feared gang violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to take part in the elections, but I have to make sure I\u2019m safe,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I die now, my wife probably won\u2019t be able to support my two kids by herself. \u2026 I\u2019m going to be very careful before I step out on election day.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Haitians register to vote in the upcoming general election in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo\/Odelyn Joseph) 2026-07-30T21:47:25Z PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) \u2014 Voter registration began Thursday in Haiti\u2019s capital and beyond, marking a critical milestone in the push for general elections even as concerns over widespread gang violence persist. The government opened 10… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}