PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s National Police faced mounting criticism Thursday over why authorities failed to prevent a recent gang attack in which 47 people were killed and more than 50 kidnapped.
Police spokesperson Garry Desrosiers took only a handful of questions from journalists at a news conference Thursday, just days after gangs attacked Kenscoff, a once-peaceful farming community nestled in the hills near Port-au-Prince.
Asked what police are planning to do about those kidnapped, Desrosiers said he could not answer that question publicly.
“We cannot talk about any plans,” he said.
One gang leader has threatened to execute all the hostages if any gang members are killed as police work to secure Kenscoff.
Desrosiers expressed condolences to all those affected by the violent attack launched late Sunday.
More than 2,600 people were displaced, according to the U.N. International Organization for Migration, and anger and frustration are mounting. Desrosiers said police are working on helping them return home, but he did not provide specifics.
One journalist questioned whether there was any intelligence gathered prior to the attack, with Desrosiers responding that authorities have been working on gathering intelligence.
He added that police are aware that one gang leader is threatening to attack Tabarre, a neighborhood within Port-au-Prince where the U.S. embassy is located.
“I’m not in a position to give you detailed information,” Desrosiers said.
Vladimir Paraison, head of Haiti’s National Police, was not present at the news conference. He recently defended security measures in Kenscoff and said that an investigation was underway to establish the truth about the attack "whether due to complicity or negligence."
Between January and August this year, security operations had managed to reduce violence in Kenscoff by 66% prior to Sunday’s attack, according to the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location & Event Data.
The attack comes as Haiti prepares to hold its first general election in more than a decade, although experts warn that insecurity persists.
Armed men control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince and swaths of land in Haiti’s central region and beyond.
Gang violence has displaced a record of nearly 1.5 million people across Haiti, where more than 3,050 people were reported killed from January to June, according to U.N. statistics.
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Blood stains the ground left behind by the victim of a gang attack in the Kenscoff neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he is renaming Lake Ontario to be known as “Lake America” in the United States as he exacerbates his trade war with Canada.
The Republican president signed an executive order that updated the lake's name for the U.S. geographic naming service. Trump cannot force Canada to follow his preferred naming convention, however.
Trump has been floating the idea of the name change in recent days as the U.S. announced it was imposing 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods over the weekend after talks between the countries broke down. Trump has been needling America’s northern neighbor since he returned to the White House last year, suggesting the ally with whom the U.S. once had warm relations should instead be absorbed as the 51st state.
Canada responded to Trump’s import taxes this week by imposing retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion worth of American goods, including steel, dairy products, appliances and farm equipment
Trump, who signed the order as he was sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, had a large sign behind him propped on a stand with a map of the Great Lakes. Over Lake Ontario, in big red letters, the map read “Lake America.”
On the other wide of the president was another map with the words, “MAKING THE GREAT LAKES EVEN GREATER.”
He told reporters that Canada is “the worst” to deal with on trade. “They feel entitled and we can’t have that,” he said.
The office of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lake is one of multiple Great Lakes that the U.S. and Canada share borders along.
The move, which Trump said was “effective immediately,” is reminiscent of his move last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.’”
Trump on Thursday suggested his push to rename bodies of water may not be finished.
“So, if you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean,” Trump said. “So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them.”
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
City Councillor Renaldo Agostino looks at the Detroit skyline across the Detroit River Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, in Windsor, Ontario (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
People look out across Lake Ontario from the harbor in Toronto, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)
President Donald Trump listens to a question from a reporter in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
