Haiti threatened by armed environmental group

The country's political crisis became even more volatile this week after an armed environmental brigade allied with a former coup leader began demanding the departure of the Prime minister.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In Haiti, as the number of murders and kidnappings increases, even the police are fleeing.

With no elected president in power and a prime minister widely seen as illegitimate, calls for the overthrow of the government are now ringing out from an unlikely source: a brigade of armed officers apparently responsible for protecting environmentally sensitive areas.

Uniformed armed members of the brigade clashed with government forces in northern Haiti this week, escalating tensions in an already unstable country where gangs have taken control large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and wreak havoc in rural areas.

The environmental group, the Brigade for the Security of Protected Areas (known as B-SAP), became angry after the prime minister dismissed his leader. On Wednesday, the group's agents attempted to invade the local customs office and units of the Haitian National Police repelled them using tear gas.

Equally worrying to analysts is the allegiance of some of the group's publicly stated leaders to Guy Philippe, a former police commander and coup leader who recently returned to Haiti after serving six years in a U.S. federal prison.

In Less than 60 days after his return home, Mr. Philippe is traveling the country to strengthen support for his so-called revolution.

ImageMr. Philippe greeting the villagers of his hometown, Pestel, in 2016. Credit...Meridith Kohut for the New York Times

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