Heavily armed individuals, members of the Haitian gang “Kokorat san ras” – whose stronghold is located at Croix-Périsse in the commune of L’Estère — set fire to the Marchand-Dessalines police station on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, before beginning its partial demolition. This attack marks a new escalation of the insecurity devastating the Lower Artibonite, a region already hard hit by armed violence.
Many residents have been forced to abandon the imperial capital. According to media reports, some members of the armed group may have remained on site to maintain control over the area.
The vice-delegate of the Dessalines arrondissement, Dunelson Duval, cited by the agency HaïtiInfoPro, confirmed the destruction of the police station by the “Kokorat san ras” gang. He strongly criticized security officials and political authorities for taking no action in the face of these destructive acts, despite numerous warnings.
To succeed in bringing down the building housing the police station, the bandits, armed with sledgehammers, mobilized young people from the Cité impériale. This destruction, lamented the executive’s representative in Marchand-Dessalines, follows a seduction campaign carefully orchestrated by the criminals aimed at the civilian population. Distributing money extorted from users of National Road No. 1, conducting an awareness campaign to demonize law enforcement — these are some of the strategies used by the thugs to advance their destructive project.
The departmental director of police in Artibonite, Divisional Commissioner Jean Alex Pierre-Louis, is being singled out as gangs make alarming progress, particularly following this violent attack on the Marchand-Dessalines police station.
The unraveling continues in Artibonite
In recent months, the “Kokorat san ras” gang and another criminal group, “Gran Grif” from Savien, have carried out deadly attacks in several localities. The attack perpetrated on the night of March 28 to 29, 2026, in Jean-Denis, in the commune of Petite-Rivière-de-l’Artibonite, killed dozens of people and destroyed numerous homes and plantations.
In Saint-Marc, where recent demonstrations against insecurity have taken place, the city was shaken by high tension on Monday, May 4. Demonstrators, most of them from Jean-Denis, erected barricades of burning tires, paralyzing activities. They intended to denounce persistent insecurity and demand concrete action from the state against the gangs.
The following Tuesday, the city hall, in coordination with the Saint-Marc Municipal Security Council, announced the imposition of a 72-hour curfew in the commune — a measure intended, according to officials, to curb insecurity and protect the population. Vehicle and motorcycle traffic is prohibited between 8:30 PM and 6:00 AM. Authorities also require that any demonstration be declared to the police and that participants keep their faces uncovered, signaling a state of alert in the city.
The organization Justice and Solidarity has strongly condemned the alarming rise of armed violence in the Artibonite department, pointing to the inaction of Haitian authorities in the face of the current security situation. According to the organization, farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs from Lower Artibonite have been directly targeted. Faced with the powerlessness of public institutions, the organization calls on the civilian population to organize to ensure their own safety.
As gangs multiply their abuses, the Haitian National Police (PNH) announced two weeks ago the launch of the Gang Repression Force (FRG). Citizens are waiting only for this new force to engage on the ground to dismantle criminal groups, reopen national roads, and allow the resumption of normal activities throughout the country.
https://ctninfo.com/artibonite-another-police-station-destroyed-the-haitian-state-powerless-against-gangs/
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