Parts of Haiti left in darkness after armed groups attack power stations

Armed groups broke into several electrical stations in Haiti, stealing documents and destroying equipment in an attack that has left areas of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, in darkness. 

The country’s power company, Electricity of Haiti, or EDH, announced in a statement Monday that vandals had attacked four of its substations and the Varreux Power Plant in Port-au-Prince, making them all “completely dysfunctional.” The attackers took electrical installations, batteries, computer and office equipment, and important documents, the company said. 

This has left several areas in and around Port-au-Prince without power, including the entrance to the U.S. embassy, the company said. 

The EDH “has not been spared by the acts of vandalism and terror of bandits,” the company said in its statement, written in French. “Such acts of theft and sabotage only further aggravate the financial and technical situation of the company.”

EDH officials said they were working with the authorities to restore power and security to the areas. 

The break-ins come as Haiti is embroiled in rising political tension and violence. Prime Minister Ariel Henry, after repeatedly failing to hold elections, announced last year that elections would be postponed again, to 2025, leading armed groups that had already been active in Port-au-Prince to dial up the violence, prompting more protests and, ultimately, calls for Henry’s resignation. Henry announced last week that he would resign if a transitional government was created. 

The armed groups, which include paramilitary and former police officers, are behind the escalation of murders, rapes, and kidnappings since the assassination of democratically elected President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program at Uppsala University in Sweden.

According to a report from the U.N. released in January, more than 8,400 Haitian people were killed, injured or kidnapped in 2023, an increase of 122% from 2022. The current crisis is unfolding as Haiti is still recovering from the devastating earthquake in 2010 that killed about 220,000 people, and another deadly earthquake in 2021.