US says no troops to Haiti as country reels from explosion of gang violence

Washington says no despite ‘frantic’ talks between diplomats, as bodies lie in street and army battles gun-toting gang members

• What led to the Haiti jailbreak – and can democracy be restored?

The United States has said it will not send troops to Haiti after a stunning eruption of gang violence seemingly designed to bring down the Caribbean nation’s enfeebled government and its unpopular prime minister Ariel Henry.

On Monday night, nearly five days after powerful organized crime bosses launched a wave of deadly and apparently coordinated attacks, the US news group McClatchy reported there had been “frantic” exchanges between US and Haitian diplomats that had raised the prospect of an emergency deployment of US special forces to help restore order.