Haiti cracks down on armed environmental agents after clashes with police

Haiti’s government on Monday announced a crackdown on a state environmental department whose heavily armed agents have grown more powerful in recent months and were blamed for violent clashes with police last week.
The government ordered all workers with the National Agency for Protected Areas to report themselves to the nearest office of the Ministry of the Environment so they can be registered.
Authorities also announced that no armed environmental agents are allowed to circulate within towns or cities, without exceptions, “in order to improve the security climate of the country and to bring peace and tranquility for all Haitians.”
The crackdown comes almost a week after the administration of Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced the restructuring of the National Agency for Protected Areas given what it called “serious problems of institutional dysfunction.”