Antony Blinken heads to Jamaica for crisis talks with Caribbean leaders with Haiti on the brink of collapse: US steps up security around the embassy after airlifting non-essential personnel out

President Joe Biden's Secretary of State left for Jamaica Monday morning for emergency talks with Caribbean leaders amid airlift evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Haiti.

Antony Blinken was pictured leaving the U.S. for Kingston, Jamaica amid fears of collapse in Haiti with growing violence across the island from local gangs threatening to bring down the local government.

Marines were deployed to remove from the country all nonessential personnel from the embassy in Haiti while the European Union and Germany also evacuated their embassy staff.

The violent operation in Haiti, which occurred early Sunday, serves as the latest sign of the country's societal troubles – as locals in its capital continue to report the overwhelming stench of the dead.

The meeting in Jamaica with Blinken and Caribbean leaders comes after the State Department earlier this year issued a travel warning to Jamaica – raising the country to a 'level four threat' and warning Americans 'do not travel' there.

Violence in Haiti broke out this past week, and includes targeting state institutions, which led to international governments evacuating their embassies. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the U.S. Monday for meetings with Caribbean leaders in Jamaica amid a massive surge in violence in Haiti and fears of collapse

Marines deployed to evacuate the U.S. embassy in Haiti as local gangs continue to attack state institutions, and as locals in the nation's capital where the diplomatic delegation is set continue to report the overwhelming stench of the dead

Gangs across the country continue to unite, causing thousands to flee their homes.

Politicians across the region are scrambling for a solution, as dogs have been seen gnawing on the unaddressed dead, and bodies are burned in the streets.

Blinken is hoping to lend U.S. assistance with his trip to the region Monday.

A travel advisory from the State Department notes: 'Secretary Antony J. Blinken will travel to Kingston, Jamaica today to attend the High-Level Meeting on Haiti convened by the Conference of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).'

'The Secretary will discuss the proposal developed in partnership with CARICOM and Haitian stakeholders to expedite a political transition in Haiti through the creation of a broad-based, independent presidential college as well as the deployment of a Multinational Security Support Mission to address the ongoing security crisis.'

The statement adds that Blinken will also meet with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness during is trip on Monday 'to discuss bilateral and regional issues and reaffirm our strong and enduring ties with Jamaica.'

The neighborhood around the U.S. Embassy in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, has been one of the hardest-hit, hence the recent evacuation operation. Its success was revealed in a statement from the US military's Southern Command later in the day.

'This airlift of personnel into and out of the embassy is consistent with our standard practice for embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft,' the command, one of 11 within the Department of Defense, said Sunday.

The evacuation operation, which occurred overnight Sunday, serves as the latest sign of Haiti's societal troubles, and saw personnel secretly evacuated under the cover of night. Pictured: The US Embassy, in Port-au-Prince, is seen here hours after the operation, early Sunday

Blinken is meeting with Caribbean leaders on Monday to 'discuss the proposal... to expedite a political transition in Haiti through the creation of a broad-based, independent presidential college.' He will also meet with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness after the State Department raised the travel warning to Jamaica to 'level four'

The statement went on to reveal how the European Union's delegation in Haiti has too temporarily closed its offices, amid the looming threat of the localized gangs.

The airlift operation at the embassy, they added, saw several non-essential embassy personnel evacuated under the cover of night, while the unspecified number of troops remained to bolster security.

In the meantime, the Caribbean nation continues to reel under a state of emergency, extended Thursday by a month as officials try and curb the violent gang attacks.

A curfew was called along with it, as the US and other countries with a presence there continue to keep operations to a minimum, citing security concerns.

For locals on the ground, it's reportedly even worse - particularly after a sweltering weekend where temperatures in the tropical region reached well into the 90s.

Residents in places like Port-au-Prince - estimated to be at least 80 percent overrun by the gangs - have thus reported the strong smell of decay, telling publications like The New York Times that the stench has forced them to vacate their homes.

A death toll, as of Monday, remains unknown, as gangs were seen hurling Molotov cocktails at the The Ministry of Interior and Territorial Communities, not far from the US embassy.

Residents in places like Port-au-Prince - estimated to be at least 80 percent overrun by the gangs - have reported the strong smell of decay, telling publications like The New York Times that the stench has forced them to vacate their homes

Violence in the Caribbean country broke out out this past week , and has since threatened to bring down the local government.

Meanwhile, gangs across the country continue to unite, causing thousands to flee their homes

Politicians across the region are scrambling for a solution, as dogs have been seen gnawing on the unaddressed dead, and bodies are burned in the streets

Others fired gunshots at the presidential palace where Prime Minister Ariel Henry was notably absent, after traveling recently to Kenya to push for a UN-backed intervention that would have seen police from Kenya come to combat the gangs.

However, that request was shot down, after a Kenyan court ruled that such a deployment would be unconstitutional.

Now facing calls to resign or form a transitional council, Henry, at the moment, remains unable to return home, stranded in Puerto Rico since Tuesday after officials deemed in unsafe to land in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

On Saturday, the office of Dominican President Luis Abinader issued a statement saying that 'Henry is not welcome in the Dominican Republic for safety reasons,' alluding that his passage in the country could see the violence spread to the other side of the island

The Dominican Republic has since closed its land border with Haiti, seemingly leaving the other side of Hispaniola to its fate. 

'Given the current situation, the presence of the Haitian prime minister in the Dominican Republic is not considered appropriate,' Abinader said Sunday, hours after word spread of the US embassy evacuation.

The politician added that 'this decision reflects the firm position of the Dominican government to safeguard its national security and stability,' and billed the security situation in Haiti as 'totally unsustainable'.

He added that the violence currently being seen in the country 'poses a direct threat to the safety and stability of the Dominican Republic,' while predicting 'the situation could deteriorate even further if a peacekeeping force is not implemented urgently.' 

A woman lies on the pavement as she mourns a family member shot dead by unknown assailants in Port-au-Prince Friday. As of writing, the city is said to be almost completely controlled by insurgents

Haitian police patrol a street after authorities extended the state of emergency amid gang violence that has threatened to bring down the government, as officials continue to beseech officials from overseas to send soldiers to help

As the stench permeates throughout the country, a morgue director told The Washington Post how he has received 20 calls in the past week from residents asking him to pick up bodies

'The biggest fear is stray bullets,' said Nixon Boumba, a 42-year-old consultant to an international aid and human rights organization based in the capital, before recalling how last weekend he called a taxi driver he uses to go shopping, only to find his friend had been shot

A police officer guards the entrance of the US embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday. The US military said Sunday that it had flown in forces to enhance security at the delegation and allow nonessential personnel to leave

Almost a day later, order has yet to be restored, after officials this week warned that 'Haiti will go hungry soon' if something is not done immediately.

Citing the gangs' recent capture of a critical port and their continued expansion of territory,  Caribbean leaders called for an emergency meeting Monday in Jamaica, to address what they called a 'dire' situation. 

Invites were sent the United States, France, Canada, the United Nations and Brazil, with the US on Sunday vowing to continue to support the embattled nation.

The chaos, meanwhile, has left citizens struggling to survive, with one telling The Times Sunday how an acquaintance's brother was struck down by one of the near-constant streams of gunfire.

'The biggest fear is stray bullets,' said Nixon Boumba, a 42-year-old consultant to an international aid and human rights organization based in the capital.

He went on to recall how, last weekend, he called the motorcycle taxi driver he typically uses to go shopping, to find his friend beside himself.

 'He told me, 'I can't come now. My brother was hit by a stray bullet,'' Boumba recalled Sunday.

Blondine Tanis, a 36-year-old radio broadcaster who was kidnapped by one of the then disjointed gangs in July who then sold her to another gang that held her for nine days, said the violence was unlike anything she had seen before. 

'What I'm witnessing today is unprecedented. It's been too long,' the morgue directors said. 'It's heartbreaking to go around and see bodies being eaten by dogs and see the corpses covered with sheets'

A death toll, as of Monday, remains unknown, as gangs were seen hurling Molotov cocktails at the The Ministry of Interior and Territorial Communities, not far from the US embassy

'There are young kids in the streets with heavy automatic weapons,' she said, comparing the unrest to the 1991 coup that led to three years of military rule.

'They shoot people and burn their bodies with no remorse. I don't know how to qualify that. I ask myself what happened to this generation. Are they even human?'

As the stench permeates throughout the country, a morgue director told The Washington Post how he has received 20 calls in the past week from residents asking him to pick up bodies. 

Four calls came in Friday, Lyonel Milfort told paper, before admitting that he had to refuse all of them.

Residents  have been seen carrying out body removals themselves, as dogs and other animals begin to gnaw on the unaddressed dead.

Gangs, meanwhile, continue to patrol the streets, setting up barricades and firing indiscriminately.

This, Milfort said, has mad venturing outside virtually impossible, as other morgues and government funded institution have found themselves under attack.

He said he doesn't want to risk the lives of his staff, mentioning how since starting his business in 2002, he has never been forced to close for so long - now more than a week.

'What I'm witnessing today is unprecedented. It's been too long,' he said. 'It's heartbreaking to go around and see bodies being eaten by dogs and see the corpses covered with sheets.'

Romain Le Cour, a political scientist currently conducting research in Port-au-Prince, said the outsized amount of bodies - many of which can be seen in photographs snapped as recently as Sunday - reflect 'extremely high levels of violence, extreme pressure on the population and a feeling of hopelessness and abandonment.'

He described the situation as among the worst Haiti has seen in years. He mentioned The 2010 earthquake that left 220,000 people dead, but pointed to how in that particular case, there was both a national and international response that reassured Haitians something was being done.

In this case, he said, citizens have not been provided with the same comfort, especially with their prime minister currently AWOL.

'Right now, what is terrible is the sense of abandonment,' he said Sunday, shortly after the successful Embassy operation. 'You have no one to turn to.

'You have to do what you have to do,' he continued. 'But you have to do it alone.'

That said, In Southern Command's statement, officials said that Washington remained firmly committed to quelling those concerns.

'Our embassy remains focused on advancing U.S. government efforts to support the Haitian people, including mobilizing support for the Haitian National Police, expediting the deployment of the United Nations-authorized Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission and accelerating a peaceful transition of power via free and fair elections,' it said.