The head of a private rescue mission trying to evacuate American citizens from war-torn Haiti claims the US government is blocking his efforts by not allowing him to use a landing zone next to the embassy.
Bryan Stern, CEO and founder of Project DYNAMO, told DailyMail.com that his efforts to rescue nearly 40 US citizens are being hampered by the State Department, which he says won’t allow him to land private helicopters on the land outside the US Embassy in Port -au-Prince.
The airport in Port-Au-Prince has been completely closed to the public amid increasing violence under mob boss Barbecue, who now controls the country.
The State Department has not yet confirmed how it will get the Americans out, or how many there even are.
Stern says there is nowhere safe to land a helicopter, load passengers and escape from, except the embassy.
Haitians are seen carrying buckets of water against the fire as official authorities remain largely absent during the ongoing crisis
“The US government is not going to use helicopters to get people out, but there’s an argument to be made that they need to help or assist non-profit organizations that need to do that,” Stern told DailyMail.com on Friday.
Bryan Stern is trying to evacuate 40 Americans from Haiti, but says the State Department is hampering the effort
“There is a landing zone right in front of the US embassy, but at this point we are being turned away because we are not the government, but surely the US government could use their own helicopters and landing zones to bring out US citizens?” Stern said.
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing or a bad decision that they don’t want to put American troops at risk and don’t want to evacuate Americans, but they should therefore help other efforts to do so.
“As long as we can operate, we will continue to operate even without the assistance of the federal government, financial or otherwise,” he explained.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
Stern said the situation for the Americans he is trying to save is worsening as Haiti descends into further chaos.
‘We are trying to rescue people who are trapped in Port-au-Prince with piles of bodies outside the front door.
‘The gang is focused on the population zones, so the risk profile of those we are trying to save is based on location’ he explained.
The city has descended into pandemonium after heavily armed gangs took over the capital and clashed with police (pictured on Thursday)
Tires have been burned in the streets of Port-au-Prince during protests following the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Tuesday
A protester burns tires during a demonstration in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday
Adds: ‘Some of the families are way out west where it’s relatively safe and benign at the moment, but they still need to get out.’
According to Stern, the gangs currently running Port-Au-Prince are ‘very active, very kinetic and uncontrolled.’
“In other conflict zones globally if there is a leader they are able to control their forces, in this case it’s not quite accurate,” he explained.
‘If gang leaders try to communicate with their guys on the street, they won’t listen.
“There is decentralized command and control that suggests a breakdown in law and order.
‘That collapse is not only of legitimate rule, but also now the illegitimate law and order.’
Going forward, Stern suggested that the US government needs to do what it can to bring law and order back.
‘If it is a peacekeeping force with foreign partners in the UN, what does it look like.
“The way you stop Haitians from fleeing Haiti makes Haiti a place you don’t have to flee,” he said, referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSanti’s efforts to block boats traveling from Haiti landing in Florida .
“I can understand where Gov. DeSantis is coming from, but it’s not going to solve any long-term problems,” he said.
Addition: ‘You cure the symptom, not the disease.’
Stern intends to evacuate US citizens by helicopter or boat if necessary.
“We’re still working on it, even if we’re imminent with an operation, we’re not going to start something that we don’t finish, we don’t try, we succeed,” he said Friday.
‘Of the 609 missions we have carried out around the world in the last ten years, we have saved over 7000 people.
‘Every person we have tried to save has succeeded.’
The city has descended into pandemonium after heavily armed gangs took over Haiti’s capital and freed thousands of prisoners who went on a killing spree as the nation teeters on the brink of civil war.
Footage shared with DailyMail.com by Project DYNAMO revealed flames in the streets and billowing clouds of smoke rising into the sky.
Haitians are seen carrying buckets of water against the fire as official authorities remain largely absent during the ongoing crisis.
Other residents calmly walk through the street, resigned to the unrest, including a schoolgirl who skips along with her backpack on.
The country’s top gang leader Jimmy ‘Barbeque’ Cherizier has threatened the families of political leaders who would support a planned transitional council to replace ousted Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
“Have you no shame?” Barbecue said in a seven-minute audio message distributed Thursday.
‘You have taken the country where it is today. You have no idea what will happen,’ he said of the politicians.
“I know if your children are in Haiti, if your wives are in Haiti… if your husbands are in Haiti,” he said in an apparent threat to their families.
“If you are going to rule the country, your whole family should be there,” he added.
In his remarks, Barbecue said Henry’s resignation was only ‘a first step in the struggle’ for the island nation of about 11 million.
A police union said national police chief Frantz Elbe’s house had been set on fire on Thursday.
It is not yet clear if anyone was injured or provide details of Elbe’s whereabouts.
A police officer is seen in action in the surroundings of the Rigsfængslet after a fire on Thursday
Ron DeSantis announced that he will send over 250 additional troops – and a fleet of planes and boats – to ‘protect’ Florida from vessels carrying Haitian asylum seekers
It happens as American citizens struggle to flee the war-torn nation, but claim to have been ‘abandoned’ by the US government.
Private rescue organization Project Dynamo is currently trying to save 30 Americans, including children.
The US government has not yet decided exactly how many Americans remain stranded.
Officials are considering housing refugees in Guantanamo Bay if there is a mass exodus.
Germaine Byrd from Miami said so NBC6 he desperately tries to rescue his mother from Cherere Belhumeur from the war-torn island.
Byrd says Belheumer has been driven out of his home by gangs. She was deported from the US in 2007 due to immigration issues and now fears for her life.
Byrd said of her mother’s predicament: ‘It really hurts because it’s over me, it’s not something I can really do.’
The White House is discussing the plans amid fears that thousands may try to reach the United States to escape the Caribbean nation on the brink of collapse.
Haitians would be treated at the base 200 miles from Haiti in a center separate from Camp X, where terror suspects are held, CNN reported.
The Department of Homeland Security says migration from the island, which is being overtaken by gangs, is so far low.
Ron DeSantis announced that he will send over 250 additional troops – and a fleet of planes and boats – to ‘protect’ Florida from vessels carrying Haitian asylum seekers.
Jill Dolan, who runs the Love a Neighbor orphanage in rural Haiti, is trapped with three of her children, ages 14 to 20
A person pushes a cart past tires set on fire by protesters during a protest in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 12, 2024
Police officers take part in an operation in the surroundings of the national prison after a fire, as a powerful gang leader in Haiti has issued a threatening message aimed at political leaders who would participate in a still-unformed transitional council for the country
The conservative governor issued the edict on Wednesday as unrest in the Caribbean country continued for a second week.
The deployment will include 48 National Guardsmen as well as four helicopters that will add to an already bustling line of defense along the state’s southern coast.
Another 39 officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 30 from the Florida Highway Patrol and 23 from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will also join the front, as well as a litany of planes and drones and eight boats.
On Friday, Ron DeSantis said he was preparing to “combat a potential influx of vessels” from Haiti to South Florida that may be “carrying illegal immigrants.”
‘This is not a new operation for us’ he told reporters at a press conference on Friday morning.
‘We have helped the Coast Guard, which is the primary vehicle for protecting the coastlines of the United States.
The federal government has had a level four travel alert in place for Haiti for four years, advising against all travel to the country and telling everyone in the country to leave as soon as they can.