Haitians return to quake-damaged churches, gangs offer aid

A Haitian gang leader on August 22 offered a truce to communities shattered by a devastating earthquake—potentially offering a break for a relief effort that has been plagued by hijacked aid trucks and disorder.

The offer came as many Haitians resumed religious services in or outside damaged churches, sometimes for the first time since the magnitude 7.2 quake of August 14. The country’s Civil Protection Agency also raised the death toll to 2,207.

It wasn’t immediately clear how much impact the truce offer might have. While powerful, Jimmy Chérizier, alias “Barbecue,” is far from the only gang leader in Haiti, and widely repeated social media reports of an earlier gang truce failed to prevent attacks on the expanding relief effort.