American missionaries trapped in Haiti are begging to be rescued as criminal gangs violently wreak havoc in the nation's capital.
For the last two weeks, attacks at police stations, prisons, and the airport have been the culmination of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis taking place in the country. Nearly 1,200 people have been killed and more than 700 injured in recent days.
It has forced the U.S. to evacuate non-essential personnel. But for some Americans, there is no way out.
Missionary Jill Dolan, who helps run Love A Neighbor, a children's home in Haiti, and her family are trapped there, sheltering in a make-shift motel in the capital of Port-au-Prince, the New York Post reports.
According to a Facebook update from Love A Neighbor, Dolan, her husband, Ryan, and their adopted teenage children were on their way to a wedding in Florida when armed gangs took over the airport.
All flights were canceled and travel back to their home in a mountain village was impossible.
Dolan said she is in contact with the U.S. Embassy, but little help has been offered.
"We've contacted agencies to extract us out, they have just said it's way too dangerous where you are, you have to stay put," she told CBS News.
"My fear is that we will be caught in the middle of something really dangerous. We're already on the front lines of it, we're in a bad area," she told the New York Post. "It's kind of depressing. The gunfire never stops."
Port-au-Prince is the center of political tension as Prime Minister Ariel Henry fights to stay in power while gangs demand his resignation.
Many Haitians are angry that general elections have not been held in nearly a decade. They claim that Henry was never elected and does not represent the people.
As CBN News reported, armed gangs have launched large-scale coordinated assaults against multiple government buildings and the presidential palace, after attacking prisons last week and freeing close to 5,000 inmates.
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Street battles between the gangs and police have crippled Haiti's fragile economy with United Nations officials saying half of the country's more than 11 million inhabitants don't have enough to eat, and 1.5 million are starving.
Reports also describe decaying bodies piling in the streets as there is no one to pick up the corpses.
Gang leader Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier has claimed responsibility for the attacks and says he aims to force Henry from office.
He has promised that chaos will continue if the citizens are left out of the process.
"We Haitians have to decide who is going to lead the country and what model of government we want," he said.
Dr. David Vanderpool, who heads a ministry to Haiti called LiveBeyond, said, "This is sort of the culmination of gangs running the country for the last three or four years. The government has collapsed. The president was assassinated in '21. The judiciary was also terminated as well as parliament. So there's not been an effective government in place since 2021 and the gangs have had full run of the country."
Meanwhile, people are locked down in homes and hotels, unable to leave the country by any means.
Miriam Cinotti and Lynn, who asked to only be identified by her first name, work with Dolan and say the country is paralyzed by the mayhem.
Although stranded in a different part of the country, they also see no way out as international airports are shut down.
"Nobody's reached out to us or anything. And then of course, when we saw the non-essential workers get picked up, we were thinking well, maybe they're going to come back and start evacuating Port-au-Prince and then have a plane for everyone else," Cinotti told the New York Post.
"We're worried because we're in a country where we don't know what's going to happen. It's unpredictable what's going on, we don't know," Lynn said.
A spokesperson for Love A Neighbor recently posted to Facebook requesting prayer for Dolan and the country of Haiti.
"We need a miracle. Will you please join us in our prayers for a miracle? Not just for our family, but also for innocent people caught in the gangs' crossfire. Haiti has been in a steep decline," they wrote.
An online fundraising campaign was started to help Dolan's organization and their family as "funds are running low due to the unexpected dire situation."
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