Thousands have fled since the gang launched an organized campaign to remove Henry from power.
Jimmy Chéridier, the Haitian gang leader behind the violent attempt to overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry, has warned of civil war and “genocide” if Henry does not resign.
Armed criminal gangs that control large swaths of the country launched coordinated attacks last week to remove the prime minister while he was abroad.
Henry was scheduled to resign in February, but was reported Tuesday to be in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico after the Dominican Republic refused to allow his plane to land. The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
“If Ariel Henry does not resign and the international community continues to support him, we will be headed straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide,” said Cherizier, 46, a former police officer. He told reporters in the capital Port-au-Prince that it was called “Barbecue” and was under UN sanctions for human rights violations.
“Haiti will either be paradise or hell for all of us. It's out of the question that a few wealthy people living in big hotels should decide the fate of people living in working-class neighborhoods,” he said. added.
Late Monday, gangs opened fire on police outside Port-au-Prince's Toussaint Louverture International Airport, leaving dozens of employees and others fleeing the bullets. The airport remained closed on Tuesday, as did schools and banks.
Over the weekend, gangs stormed Haiti's two largest prisons, allowing thousands of inmates to escape.
“Haiti is now under the control of gangs. There is no government,” said Michel Saint-Louis, 40, standing in front of the capital's burnt-out police station. “I hope we can keep Henry out and restore order to whoever is in power.”
Henry, who came to power under a deal struck with the opposition after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, was supposed to step down in February to call elections.
But in recent months, gangs have expanded beyond the cities and into rural areas, overwhelming security forces in one of the world's poorest countries.
Mr Henry said the situation was still too unstable to hold an election and called for the deployment of a UN-backed multinational police force to help stabilize the country.
At least 15,000 people have recently been evacuated from the worst-hit areas of Port-au-Prince, said Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Rights group Plan International said many people had fled the capital to Artibonite. Artibonite is a traditionally agricultural region of Haiti, and residents are currently facing food shortages as fighting spreads north.
The government has declared a state of emergency and a curfew, and the UN Security Council has scheduled a closed session on the situation later on Wednesday.
Countries in the region withdrew their embassies and advised their citizens to leave.