MEXICO CITY – Last words Michelle Reed hears from her 6-year-old adopted sonEsai Reed said in early November: “Mom, come get me.”

However, after US aviation authorities stepped in Tuesday blocked airlines Unable to travel to Haiti for 30 days after several planes were shot down by gangs, 51-year-old Reed is once again cut off from his adopted son, who is waiting for paperwork to go through a bureaucratic process in an orphanage in Haiti. crippled by Haiti’s spiraling crisis.

As violence erupts once again in the Caribbean nation, Reed worries that Esai may never make it to his new home in Florida, where his two biological brothers are waiting to be reunited with him.

“Our children are sitting in Haiti with no way out,” Reed told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “It’s a fear I feel because I don’t know if he’s going to come home. I don’t know if he’ll be able to get over this.”

Reed is one of dozens of families deprived of their adoptive children, and many more worry about their loved ones on the island; It’s one of the ripple humanitarian consequences of this week’s escalation of violence and political unrest in Haiti.

The chaos began over the weekend when the interim council formed to restore democratic order in Haiti opened fire on the government. interim prime minister Garry ConilleA person who has a falling out with the council. When Haiti vowed to appoint Alix Didier Fils-Aimé as his replacement on Monday, gangs once again took advantage of the chaos to seize power.

Gangs opened fire on three different planes of US airlines Spirit, JetBlue and American Airlines, which were landing and taking off in the capital Port-au-Prince, 85 percent of which is under the control of gangs, according to United Nations estimates. A flight attendant was injured and bullets riddled the Spirit plane.

In conclusion, Federal Aviation Administration restricts US airlines It banned flying to Haiti for 30 days, and American Airlines announced it would pause flights until February. The United Nations also said it was temporarily suspending flights to Port-au-Prince and cutting off access to humanitarian aid and personnel in the country.

Meanwhile, clashes broke out all over the city and gangs began burning houses in upper-class areas. The streets remained empty; schools, banks and government facilities were closed.

Such violent outbursts forced children into even more dangerous situations, such as Reed’s adopted son, who was evacuated from his orphanage three times.

Airline restrictions have left Haiti once isolated from much of the world and with little of the humanitarian aid it needs as the Caribbean nation teeters on the brink of famine.

“We call for an end to the escalating violence to allow safe, continuous and unhindered humanitarian access,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement on Tuesday. he said.

On Wednesday, the crisis continued to affect Port-au-Prince. Schools were closed and gunshots were heard in the streets.

Médecins Sans Frontières/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also reported on Wednesday that a mix of police and vigilante groups attacked one of the ambulances, slashed tires, sprayed medical staff with tear gas and executed at least two injured patients.

“This action is a shocking display of violence for both patients and MSF medical staff, and calls into serious question MSF’s ability to continue providing essential care to the Haitian people in urgent need,” said Christophe Garnier. the head of the organization’s mission in Haiti made a statement.

Meanwhile, Reed wakes up every morning with a gnawing feeling in his stomach and worries that the day he’ll get a phone call telling him his 6-year-old adopted Haitian son has been attacked or killed by gangs in the country.

Reed is one of a group of families who have fought a protracted battle with the U.S. State Department and Haitian authorities to get their children out of Haiti and have asked the U.S. government for humanitarian parole for nearly 70 of the children they adopted.

It was an opportunity the United States gave more than a dozen children to attack when gangs attacked key government infrastructure and occupied Haiti’s main international airport earlier this year. will be closed for approximately three monthsFrom March to May, it led to the evacuation of dozens of U.S. citizens and 39 children with final adoption orders.

But families like Reed’s say they feel helpless and that there is a mix of crises in Haiti and that the tangle of American and Haitian bureaucracy is hindering their efforts to get passports for their children, even though Reed is already referred to as “mother” by Esai. his surname.

In addition to periodic evacuations, Reed said the director of the orphanage where his son lived has since left the country, leaving him in the hands of a series of trusted contractors. She has had little contact with her son, hoping to talk to him in the coming days, and is unable to visit her son to make sure he is okay, due to both the flights and the violence that ensues.

She is not legally allowed to move her Esai to a safer part of Haiti or to the United States, although she has to pay for hospital bills and funeral expenses if anything happens to him.

The U.S. government did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment, but had previously told Reed and other parents in letters that “despite extensive efforts,” it had been unable to find a solution that would allow children without adoption decisions to leave Haiti and enter the United States. WE

He “understands and empathizes with the concerns and frustrations of U.S. families who have adopted from Haiti,” he told the AP in September.

Meanwhile, Reed and other families anxiously await more news as they watch the violence spiral in Haiti.

“All we ask is that the U.S. government work with the Haitian government to get these children to safety and to their adoptive families. We just want our children to survive.”

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Associated Press reporter Evens Sanon contributed to this story from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.