Anti-terrorism Marine unit sent to protect US embassy in Haiti after PM’s resignation announcement

The US Marine Corps sent an anti-terrorism unit to protect the US Embassy in Haiti amid an eruption of gang violence following the prime minister’s announcement that he plans to step down.

The US Southern Command, operating in the Greater Miami area, said Wednesday that a Marine Fleet-Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) was dispatched to the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince to “maintain strong security capabilities.”

The team was deployed at the request of the State Department and will also provide relief for the current Marines already stationed in Haiti and allow additional “non-emergency personnel to depart,” the command said.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, 74, announced Tuesday that he planned to resign once a transitional presidential council was created just hours after Caribbean and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Jamaica to discuss the island’s situation.

The country — which shares borders with the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola — has long been overrun with gang violence that has worsened since Henry’s announcement.