In several neighborhoods of the metropolitan area that were once affected by armed violence, residents driven out by gangs are gradually returning home. But many are still living in vulnerable conditions, amid damaged homes, absent essential services and insecurity after nightfall. Without security and the means to rebuild, some fear they will never recover their former lives or see their neighborhoods erase the scars left by armed gangs.

The return is taking place slowly in Nazon, Delmas 30, part of Delmas 24 and Solino. The streets are regaining some color, but traces of the violence remain visible on building facades and inside homes. Many houses, most of them littered with debris, have no doors or windows. Facades and walls remain blackened by smoke from fires set by gangs.