Adrian Dittman
2025-01-01 14:56:13 UTC
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Permalinkmassacring older people and Vodou religious leaders in his community to
avenge his son's death, according to the government and human rights
organizations that estimate more than 100 were killed.
Reports on the number of dead in Port-au-Prince can vary wildly in a
country where such killings often occur in gang-controlled, largely
inaccessible areas.
Haiti's government in a statement Monday acknowledged the massacre,
saying over 180 were killed in the Cite Soleil neighborhood, and promised
to bring to justice those responsible for "this unspeakable carnage."
Four armed soldiers are shown riding on the back of a truck in an urban
environment.
Members of the Haitian Armed Forces are seen on patrol Monday in Port au-
Prince's Poste Marchand suburb following the violence by armed gangs over
the weekend. (Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters)
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the ongoing violence,
which saw the killing of "at least 184 people, including 127 elderly men
and women, between Dec. 6-8 in the Wharf Jeremie neighbourhood of Cite
Soleil," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. The UN did not respond
to queries on how it obtained those figures.
Guterres called on Haitian authorities to conduct a thorough
investigation and ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice for this
killing and all other human rights abuses and violations, Dujarric said.
Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, told journalists
earlier Monday that at least 184 people were killed by a powerful gang
leader.
Gang leader's son reportedly died of illness
The Co-operative for Peace and Development, a local rights group, said in
a statement Sunday its monitoring unit found that around 20 older people
were killed in the massacre in the community controlled by gang leader
Micanor Altes, also known as Monel Felix.
The murky information was a worrying sign in a country in the grip of
widespread gang violence.
"The fact that we have so many doubts about what happened days after the
massacre is a signal that clearly indicates the level of control [gangs]
have on the population," said Diego Da Rin, an analyst with the
International Crisis Group.
Two dark-complected women and a child are shown walking in an urban
setting, in a narrow lane between buildings.
Women carry their belongings as they flee homes on Monday following the
armed gang's violence over the weekend, at the Poste Marchand suburb, in
Port-au-Prince. (Ralph Tedy Arol/Reuters)
The accused gang leader controls the coastal communities of Wharf
Jeremie, La Saline and Fort Dimanche and was known for robbery, extortion
and hijacking of goods and trucks, according to a UN report earlier this
year.
"Micanor was not known for being as brutal as other gang leaders," Da Rin
said. "Not until now."
The National Human Rights Defense Network said the massacre occurred
because the gang leader's child was severely ill, prompting him to seek
advice from a Vodou priest. After his son died, he accused older people
in the community "of practising witchcraft and harming the child."
The Cooperative for Peace and Development said that according to
information circulating in the community, Micanor accused people in the
neighbourhood of causing his son's illness.
"He decided to cruelly punish all elderly people and [Vodou]
practitioners who, in his imagination, would be capable of casting a bad
spell on his son," the group said.
It said gunmen rounded up well-known community leaders and took them to
the gang leader's stronghold, where they were executed.
Lack of information on social media
Da Rin noted that usually killings in Haiti are documented and posted on
social media, though they can be difficult to verify. "In this case,
there was not even a message on WhatsApp or a video on TikTok, which is
very unusual," he said.
The Co-operative for Peace and Development said Micanor has previously
targeted Vodou practitioners, killing a dozen older women and Vodou
leaders "wrongly accused of witchcraft" in recent years.
An older man is shown walking past a pile of refuse strewn on the street
in an urban setting.
A man walks past burning garbage in downtown Port-au-Prince on Monday.
Gang killings have overwhelmed Haiti's National Police and a UN-backed
mission led by Kenyan police that lacks funds and personnel. (Odelyn
Joseph/The Associated Press)
It's not unusual for Haitians to seek medical and other advice from Vodou
priests known as "oungans." The religion that mixes Catholicism with
animist beliefs was at the root of the revolution that led Haiti to
become the world's first free Black republic in 1804.
The massacre in Port-au-Prince comes two months after over 70 people were
killed in the central town of Pont-Sonde, where gangs are vying to
control more territory.
Such killings have overwhelmed Haiti's National Police and a UN-backed
mission led by Kenyan police that lacks funds and personnel.
"The crisis in Haiti has reached catastrophic levels with allied criminal
groups intensifying large-scale, co-ordinated attacks on the population
and key state infrastructure," Human Rights Watch said Monday as it
called for a UN mission.
It noted that "many Haitians live with the constant fear of being killed,
raped, kidnapped, or forcibly recruited even as they struggle every day
to find adequate food, water, and health care to survive."
More than 4,500 people have been reported killed in Haiti this year,
according to the UN.