Anger grows in Haiti over weapons trafficking from U.S. after guns shipped as church donations

FILE PHOTO: Haitian children who escaped violence in the town of Cite-Soleil are seen as they take refuge at a school, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 22, 2022. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A string of recent arms-trafficking scandals in Haiti, including the discovery of weapons in a shipping container labeled as church donations, has ignited anger over a steady flow of U.S. guns that are fueling rampant gang violence.

Haiti's customs agency on July 14 seized shipping containers holding 18 "weapons of war," four handguns and nearly 15,000 rounds of ammunition that were shipped from the United States to the Episcopal Church of Haiti, which said the documents had been falsified and that it had nothing to do with the containers.