More Americans have evacuated from Haiti with help from U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla. A group of 13 people left from Port-au-Prince over the weekend amid escalating security concerns and the shutdown of Haiti’s primary airport, which have stranded many foreigners in the country.
“Our team successfully conducted another rescue of 13 Americans out of PAP Haiti,” Mills said Monday on social media.
Miriam Cinotti, a missionary who had been in Haiti for 14 years, was among the group and shared her experience of being stranded in a remote village in the south of Haiti. “We were safe, but then we couldn’t get out. We were there for three weeks, only supposed to be there for two,” she told NBC News.
Cinotti detailed the challenging logistics of evacuating from a remote location, including the difficulty accessing the internet and printing facilities. She said Project Dynamo, an organization that specializes in evacuation operations, and its help were crucial to her rescue.
The deteriorating security situation in Haiti, exacerbated by recent gang violence, has led to heightened concerns for the safety of foreigners in the country. The airport shutdown in Port-au-Prince has further complicated efforts.
Mills was involved this month with the rescue of 10 people from the Have Faith Orphanage in Haiti. Bestselling author and award-winning journalist Mitch Albom established the orphanage and was among those who were was rescued.
Albom said Mills and Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., helped the group, which included Americans and people from Canada and France.
“I am back on American soil. Thank you to all have supported us during this difficult week. My wife and I are safe tonight,” Albom said last week on X.
The State Department has continued its efforts to repatriate American citizens from Haiti, more than 30 of whom were repatriated on a chartered flight back to the U.S.
A day after the State Department posted its plans for the flight on X and invited U.S. passport holders to register, the flight departed from the northern port city of Cap-Haitien and landed in Miami.
A contingent of U.S. Marines was deployed to Port-au-Prince on Wednesday to safeguard the U.S. Embassy, which had largely evacuated nonessential personnel last year.
Despite the challenges and uncertainties, Cinotti remains hopeful and committed to supporting Haiti.
“The people in Haiti still need the love, they need your funds to missions,” she said. “We’re never going to forget Haiti, and I will forever keep putting them up there and lifting them up.”