Haitian "self-defense brigades," which claim to protect communities from ever-escalating gang violence in the Caribbean country, are also being accused of engaging in unrelated acts of violence.

Thousands of Haitians took to the streets in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday to express their anger against armed gangs that control nearly all of the capital and surrounding areas and the government ...

Gangs control an estimated 90% of Port-au-Prince, Ghada Fathy Waly, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told the U.N. Security Council.