Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — Hundreds of people have been brutally killed by gang members in Haiti capital, Port-au-Prince. According to BBC, a human rights group reported that a local gang leader killing elderly residents after his son fell ill and later died.
The National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH), a Haitian NGO focused on monitoring state institutions and promoting human rights, reported on Sunday (December 9) that at least 110 people, all over the age of 60, were killed over the weekend. The killings occurred in the Cité Soleil neighborhood, a gang stronghold in Port-au-Prince.
According to BBC, RNDDH identified the man behind the killings as Monel Felix, known as “Mikano,” who controls Wharf Jérémie, a strategic area in the capital’s port. Report said, Felix ordered the attacks after his child fell ill believed due to witchcraft.
The gang members lead by Felix abducted dozens of residents over the age of 60 from their homes in the Wharf Jérémie area. The elderly residents were targeted by Felix after he consulted a voodoo priest, who accused the community’s elders was the one using the witchcraft to harm his child.
RNDDH estimated that 60 people were killed on Friday, with another 50 murdered on Saturday. Victims were shot or hacked to death with knives and machetes. Witnesses described seeing mutilated bodies burned in the streets.
While the human rights group said all the victims were elderly, others reported that younger residents who tried to defend their elders were also killed.
Residents reportedly could not flee Wharf Jérémie, allowing news of the deadly massacre to spread slowly. Tight gang control, including the restriction of mobile phone use, also limited residents’ ability to share information about the massacre.
Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, a Haiti expert at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), described the area as small but heavily fortified, making it difficult for security forces to penetrate.
While details of the latest massacre continue to emerge, the death toll could be higher.
Haiti Gang Violence
BBC reports said, Haiti has been gripped by a surge in gang violence since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
According to GI-TOC data, homicide rates declined between May and September this year after rival gangs agreed to a fragile truce. However, recent efforts by gangs to expand their territories beyond their urban strongholds have resulted in increasingly deadly incidents targeting civilians rather than rival groups.
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With gangs now controlling about 85% of Port-au-Prince and expanding into rural areas, hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been forced to flee their homes. The International Organization for Migration estimates that over 700,000 people — half of them children — are internally displaced across the country.
The escalating violence in Haiti highlights the deepening humanitarian crisis, as vulnerable communities continue to bear the brunt of gang-related brutality amid a fractured security landscape and political instability.
(Raidi/Agung)
