A horrific massacre in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, left almost 200 people dead over the weekend. Almost all the victims were elderly people.
According to initial reports, vodou followers were specifically targeted in this tragedy, which occurred in the Warf Jérémie locality in the Cité Soleil commune, north of Port-au-Prince.
The Committee for Peace and Development (CPD), a leading civil organization, reports that at least 180 people were murdered under the orders of a powerful gang leader, Micanor Altès, alias Wa Mikanò, operating in the locality of Warf Jérémie in Cité Soleil. The latter believed that his son’s illness was caused by elderly people often accused of witchcraft (werewolves).
The CPD revealed that the gang leader was accusing elderly people and followers of vodou of putting a curse on his son. The gang would seek out the victims in their homes and take them by force to its stronghold for execution. “The gang’s soldiers were responsible for identifying the victims at their homes and taking them to the chief’s fiefdom to be executed,” said the CPD, as reported by The Guardian.
The massacre took place over the weekend in Cité Soleil, a coastal district of Port-au-Prince that has become a hotbed of gang activity.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, at least 184 people have been killed in violence across the city during this period. “These latest killings bring the death toll in Haiti this year to a staggering 5,000 people,” Mr. Türk said in Geneva.
Most of the victims of this attack were over 60. However, younger people, who were trying to rescue others, were also killed. “Reliable sources in the community report that over a hundred people were massacred, their bodies mutilated and burned in the street”, added the CPD.
As usual, the nine-president transitional government has yet to say a word about this tragedy.
Haiti has long been plagued by instability, but the situation has worsened considerably in recent years. Gangs now control around 80% of Port-au-Prince, leaving residents at the mercy of extreme violence.
Despite a Kenyan-led police support mission backed by the UN and the USA, gang activity continues to intensify. Efforts to restore security and stability in the country remain of limited effectiveness, putting millions of Haitians at further risk.
Violence in Haiti has displaced more than 700,000 people, half of them children, according to October data from the UN’s International Organization for Migration.
As gang control expands, safety zones are shrinking and vulnerable populations no longer have access to essential resources or protection.
The international community has condemned the escalation of violence in Haiti, but tangible solutions remain elusive. Although the Kenyan police initiative has been supported by the United Nations and the United States, its impact has not yet been sufficient to stem the tide of gang control.
