Frontline

Battle for Haiti (2011x1)

Air date: Jan 11, 2011

Last year, in the chaos of the earthquake that devastated Haiti, thousands of the country's worst criminals seized the opportunity to stage a mass escape from the National Penitentiary. One year later, the gang leaders are reasserting control in the capital, threatening the country's stability. With unique access to the police units trying to hunt down the gangsters -- and revealing encounters with the gangsters themselves -- FRONTLINE examines the uphill fight to rebuild Haiti in the face of deep-rooted corruption and intimidation. The film also offers intimate portraits of the fearful lives many Haitians are living, as the central government and judicial system routinely fail to maintain order. "Haiti is a nation that committed collective suicide some time ago," the chief of the UN mission tells FRONTLINE. If the gangs are not defeated, many now believe a new Haiti cannot be born.