Police under siege as fire destroys Port-au-Prince’s Hotel Oloffson

PORT-AU-PRINCE — The flames that consumed the historic Hotel Oloffson on July 5 were more than an architectural loss—they signaled how far Haiti’s security crisis has spiraled.

For months, the once-thriving Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood had been a frontline in gang takeovers. When smoke rose from the Oloffson, police were already fighting deadly battles nearby.

Between the evening of July 5 and the morning of July 6, videos of the hotel in flames spread widely. Nearby Avenue Fouchard had already been the site of heavy gunfire between police units and armed groups for weeks. Social media posts, filled with frustration, described an escalating wave of violence since early July.

Within less than 24 hours, the destruction came as two officers were killed in separate gang ambushes: Olrich Joseph of the SWATT unit, died in Viard, Kenscoff, and another Anti-Gang Tactical Unit (UTAG) member was gunned down in Charrier, near Saint-Marc. In Kenscoff, gangs torched a police armored vehicle, mocking the nation’s fragile security apparatus.

The gang violence continues

In Mirebalais, near Sarazin and Lascahobas—along the mountainous roads of the Central Plateau—armed groups from Canaan and Croix-des-Bouquets attacked a patrol on July 3. One officer was killed, another captured and publicly humiliated. The assailants circulated a disturbing video showing the brutal fate of their victims.

Local authorities reported at least eight fatalities, multiple disappearances and the theft of three vehicles. The attacks also affected education: in Lascahobas, the final day of national exams for 9th-grade students was canceled. This was confirmed in a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

According to OCHA, this surge in violence has worsened the humanitarian crisis in Haiti’s Centre department, particularly in the Lower Plateau region. As of April, approximately 7,500 people were displaced due to armed conflict—though no official figures have yet been released for this latest wave of violence.

In this accelerating collapse, the loss of the Oloffson feels profoundly symbolic. It marks the twilight of an imagined republic—a place of deep history, engulfed in a country that seems no longer able to tell its story without turning to fire.

A cultural beacon

The Oloffson Hotel, a historic wooden manor, was once a presidential residence and later a cultural epicenter, a haven for artists, and a literary landmark.

At the top of Avenue Christophe in Port-au-Prince, where the colonial-style building once stood, only charred remnants remain. For those who knew the place, it wasn’t just a building that burned—it was a piece of the city’s emotional geography that collapsed.

“No more dancing, no more dining, no more nights at the Oloffson. Gone are the meetups, the dates, the rum sours, the RAM concerts,” wrote Haitian actor and film director Guerismé Eliezer on X. “That mythical place in Port-au-Prince is gone. Bandits set fire to decades of history.”

For many dedicated to Haitian culture and legacy, the destruction wasn’t just a tragedy—it was an act of war against memory and endurance.

“What nature couldn’t destroy in nearly a century, barbarism and savagery by our fellow Haitians burned it down in one night,” filmmaker Richard Sénécal posted on X. 

“This one really hurts,” also wrote women’s rights advocate Monique Clesca on X, adding her voice to the widespread grief. “It was Vodou flags. It was Eldorado. It was lunch with friends. It was the staff. It was RAM. It was the architecture.”

The hotel’s inviting verandas once welcomed bohemian writers, actors, and disillusioned diplomats. Its walls echoed with drums and secrets, with smoky jazz and Jolicoeur’s anecdotes scribbled on rum-stained napkins. The Oloffson was more than a hotel—it was a stage, a crucible, a living archive.

Originally built in the late 19th century by Démosthène Simon Sam—son of President Tirésias Simon Sam—the mansion served as a family residence until 1915, when another family member, Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, assumed the presidency. His violent death triggered U.S. military intervention and the start of the American occupation. The house was seized and transformed into a military hospital for nearly two decades.

It wasn’t until after the American troops withdrew that the residence became the Hotel Oloffson. The building adopted the gingerbread style characteristic of Haitian architecture, with intricate woodwork and sloped roofs. In the 1990s, musician Richard Morse took over its management, installing his band RAM and turning the hotel into a bastion of cultural resistance—a rare space of freedom in an often-muzzled nation.

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