Telecom companies in Haiti report severed fiber optic cables; gangs are suspected

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two telecommunication companies in Haiti say their fiber optic cables were severed this week, temporarily leaving customers without service. The interruptions are suspected to be acts of sabotage by criminal gangs. Digicel Haiti said one of its cables was cut on Thursday in the community of Martissant near the capital of Port-au-Prince, considered ground zero for warring gangs. The cable affects customers in Haiti’s western region, and it also had been severed earlier in the week. Meanwhile, Access Haiti says some its fiber optic cables were cut on Monday in what it described as an act of “sabotage.”