Powerful Haitian gang reaches out to state disarmament group as gunfights persist

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — One of Haiti’s most powerful gangs said Friday that it reached out to a government agency responsible for dismantling armed gangs in a push for “peace, stability and national reconciliation.”The 400 Mawozo gang sent a three-page statement to The Associated Press stressing that “dialogue is not a capitulation,” but rather an “act of patriotic responsibility to preserve human lives.”The United Nations and human rights groups have accused 400 Mawozo of raping, killing and kidnapping people, which it has denied. On Nov. 1, gang leader Wilson Joseph told the AP that he wrote to the U.N. secretary-general and requested that the organization send a delegation to Haiti for dialogue and mediation amid fears that the presence of Salvadoran troops could further escalate violence.The gang, which refers to itself as a rebel group, said that it plans to participate in a peaceful demonstration later this month “in order to lay the groundwork for a national dialogue and pe