PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Miriam Cinotti, a Florida missionary, was one of 13 U.S. citizens who were evacuated from Haiti over the weekend after gang violence sent the country into chaos.
“With the military that we have and as powerful, there’s no excuse to have people stranded here in reality,” Cinotti told Local 10 News on a Zoom call Tuesday. “It’s sad that our government is not doing anything. I pay my taxes and I know what’s available.”
Cinotti was joined by Bryan Stern who is the head of Project Dynamo, a group that specializes in repatriating U.S. citizens from conflict zones globally.
“Everyone is very target fixated on Port-Au-Prince, but the reality is there are Americans all over the place. And some of those places are extremely austere, in the middle of nowhere that are very hard to get to. With her particular operation, we had an air component, a maritime component and a land component.”
Cinotti told Local 10 News she was in a remote part of Haiti, a long way from Port Au Prince, and had been waiting days to be rescued.
“With the military that we have in the U.S. as powerful as we are there’s no excuse for people to be stranded here, in reality. And that’s really sad that our people, our government, the United States is not doing it,” she said. “Even Florida, in my opinion, we have the Florida National Guard. I pay my taxes send them over pick us up, there’s no reason and I’m not bashing anyone. I know what I paid for and I know what’s available and I just don’t understand why it’s not happening.”
Despite efforts to provide additional aid to Haiti, Cinotti says those who need help are not getting it.
“Really truly there’s nothing that we do that the U.S. government can’t do for a lot of reasons some easy to understand some hard to understand they’re not at this time at least the U.S. government is not, aren’t doing these operations,” said Stern.
Cinotti is currently in the Dominican Republic, a country that has become a landing spot for those who have been trying to leave Haiti.
Kevin Guthrie with the Florida Division of Emergency Management told Local 10 News their team has been working to remove people from Haiti.
“As of today (Tuesday) at noon the division had received 252 contacts which represent 348 individuals that are U.S. citizens. Of those 348 individuals, 259 of them are Floridians.”
Details about future flights remain uncertain, with flights operating out of Cap-Haitien, located 100 miles from Port-au-Prince, on a highway made perilous by armed gangs.
For more information on Project Dynamo, click here.
Local 10 News reporter Annaliese Garcia contributed to this story.