San Juan, Puerto Rico – An airport in the southwest of Haiti is ready to receive international flights for the first time, authorities said on Wednesday, adding a safer option for commercial airlines that have stopped all flights to the main airport of Port-Au-Prince, where gang violence persists.
Antoine Simon airport in the coastal city of Les Cayes, named for a Haitian president who directed a rebellion in early 1900, operated for almost two decades before renewals in 2013 to extend his track.
Now is the third International Airport of Haiti, a development that is expected to drive the local economy and provide a new way for some non -profit organizations to distribute very necessary help.
“It’s really exciting,” said Wynn Walent, executive director of the non -profit organization based in Colorado locally Haiti, which operates in the southwest of Haiti. “For understandable reasons, people focus on the challenges in Port-Au-Prince, but there is much that can be done in the south. This could be a great step in that direction. “
Hugh Aprile, regional director of Mercy Corps for Latin America and the Caribbean, celebrated the new track, saying that it is possible that more organizations would base their teams in Les Cayes instead of Port-Au Prince.
“Much of the needs are in the South Peninsula,” he said. “For us, this will be useful.”
Leslie Voltaire, president of the Presidential Council of Transition of Haiti, traveled to Les Cayes to present the renewed airport on Wednesday, saying that it would help develop sectors, including tourism.
“Infrastructure is the basis of the economic development of a country,” he said.
The majority of people traveling to the land of Haiti at the International Airport in the Northern Coastal City of Cap-Haitien, then travel on land or helicopter to the capital.
Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-Au-Prince It remains open But commercial flights have stopped since the gangs opened fire in three planes in November, wound a hostess slightly.
The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States extended a prohibition of US flights to the capital of Haiti until March 12.
It was not clear immediately if US commercial flights will use the remodeled airport, or if an international flight has yet landed on the extended track in Les Cayes.
Local media reported that the technicians of the United States airline Jetblue came to Les Cayes to inspect the track. The company did not immediately respond to a message in search of comments.
Martine Villeneuve, director of the country of Action Against Hunger, held the renewed airport, but pointed out that he arrived too late for his organization.
The action against hunger was attacked by the Recent USAID cuts And he was forced to eliminate a nutrition and food program that served 13,000 people in the northeast and rural south of Haiti. Now, the organization focuses on helping people in Puerto Príncipe and the central region of Artibonita.
“We are trapped in port prince,” he said. “It is very difficult to enter and leave.”
Gangs control 85% of the capital as well as all the main roads that lead to the north and south of the country.
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Associated Press Event journalist Evens Sanon in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, contributed.
