FORT LAUDERDALE-HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) - In the face of escalating violence and chaos in Haiti, U.S. officials have committed to evacuating the 259 Floridians unable to leave the troubled country, where gangs have seized control of much of the capital, making the international airport inoperable.
The situation on the ground has deteriorated sharply, with roads that should be bustling with traffic to Port-au-Prince’s airport now empty and strewn with debris and burning trash. The closure of the airport, following the gang’s takeover of approximately 80% of the city, has trapped hundreds of Americans.
The U.S. State Department is actively exploring options for American citizens to depart Haiti, with current plans involving transit from Port-au-Prince to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. From there, Americans would need to arrange their own onward travel.
This comes as nearly a thousand individuals have sought assistance from the U.S. government, which has maintained its highest level of travel advisory for Haiti since 2020, advising against all travel to the region.
Despite the advisory, the response from U.S. authorities has faced criticism for its perceived lack of urgency. Florida Republican Cory Mills said his office has rescued 23 Americans.
“You’ve got this deputy spokesman saying it’s their top priority for the safety and security, but, it’s not. It is not their top priority. If it was, they would’ve actually have been starting flights out of the Cap-Haitien,” said Mills in an interview with CNN.
More than 300 U.S. citizens have already made the journey on foot to flee Haiti, with Mexican authorities reporting a surge in Haitian refugees attempting to cross into the U.S. border.
Project Dynamo, a Tampa-based veteran-run search and rescue group known for its previous operations, including the evacuation of 270 Americans from Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks, has mobilized the Dominican Republic to help in the evacuation efforts.
“If these operations were simple and not complex, people would just leave because, they would if they could, but the reality is, in most cases they cannot,” said Project Dynamo CEO Bryan Stern.
Scheduled flights to Florida were canceled on Tuesday due to the volatile situation on the ground.
“Unfortunately the situation on the ground is so volatile that we have not been able to successfully complete that mission,” said Director Kevin Guthrie with the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
According to FlightAware.com, Spirit Airlines did have a flight scheduled for Cap-Haitien on Wednesday morning, but an employee told 7News that their flights to Haiti have not been departing due to the situation.
Wednesday afternoon Governor Ron DeSantis held a news conference at Orlando Sanford International Airport to talk about the first of four flights coming in from Haiti.
“It’s not just show up at an airport, people jump on,” said DeSantis. “I mean, there’s people that are in parts of Haiti that are dangerous.”
Philippe Arman told 7News he had to wait two and a half weeks to evacuate from Haiti.
“The biggest hurdle was getting transportation around the city because of many barricades, many roads are closed off, many side roads are closed off,” said Arman. “Neighborhoods are trying to protect themselves.”
Arman says it’s not just adults trying to get out of the country but parents with small children under the age of eight.
“We are dealing with stress about this, we are dealing with little kids, not adults…it was just scary,” said Arman.
7News reached out to IBC Airways, a private charter airline, which said their flights to Cap-Haitien are still operational.
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