Port-au-Prince: In a shocking development, gang members brandishing automatic rifles stormed a town in Haiti’s breadbasket region, killing at least 70 people and forcing more than 6,000 to flee, causing widespread panic even in a country accustomed to outbreaks of violence. violence. More people were seriously injured in the attack in the early hours of Thursday in Pont-Sonde, in the agricultural region of Artibonite in western Haiti.
The leader of the Great Grif gang, Luckson Elan, took responsibility for the massacre, saying it was in retaliation for civilians’ inaction while police and vigilante groups killed his soldiers. The U.N. migration agency said some 6,270 people had fled their homes due to the attacks, most of them sheltered by families living in nearby Saint-Marc and other towns, while others remain in makeshift camps.
Gang members set fire to dozens of homes and vehicles, local authorities said, in one of the deadliest attacks in recent years in the Caribbean nation that has seen many massacres and little justice for their victims. “This hateful crime against defenseless women, men and children is not only an attack against the victims but against the entire Haitian nation,” Prime Minister Garry Conille said in X.
The worsening conflict in Haiti
A spokesman for Haiti’s national police told Reuters on Friday afternoon that the police director in charge of the Artibonite department had been replaced. “For now, reinforcements are in place to contain the situation and security forces are in control,” the spokesperson said.
The killings are the latest sign of a worsening conflict in Haiti, where armed gangs control most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are expanding into nearby regions, fueling hunger and leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Promised international support remains slow and nearby nations have deported migrants back to the country.
“The gang did not encounter any resistance,” Bertide Horace, spokesperson for the Dialogue and Reconciliation Commission to Save the Artibonite Valley, told Reuters, adding that police officers remained at their station, perhaps thinking they would be outgunned by the gang members. An armored truck parked in nearby Verrettes also failed to mobilize, Horace said, as two members of his family were wounded during the attack. Many victims were shot in the head as gang members went house to house, he added.
The human rights organization RNDDH said the death toll was probably higher as entire families had been wiped out. “At the time of writing, the bodies are scattered on the ground because their loved ones have not yet been able to recover them,” it states in a report. RNDDH said rumors had been circulating for two months about a possible massacre in retaliation for residents helping a vigilante group that prevented the gang from extorting money on the national highway through the city.
What is the Big Grif gang?
The Gran Grif gang is based in the area and has been accused of mass kidnappings, rapes, murders, kidnappings and evictions of farmers from their land, as well as recruiting children. Elan was added to the UN sanctions list last month. In an audio message shared on social media Thursday, Elan blamed victims in the city and the state for his gang’s attack.
According to the UN, no progress has been made in cases of mass killings committed since 2021, as well as in several major massacres since 2017. Police are alleged to have been involved in some mass killings. Gang leader Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier, a former police officer, was accused by the UN of planning and participating in the murder of 71 civilians in 2018 in the capital’s port neighborhood of La Saline.
The World Food Program has blamed gangs operating in the region, extorting farmers, stealing crops and forcing workers off their land, for skyrocketing prices and food shortages that have led to five millions of people to serious food insecurity and thousands in Port-au-Prince to famine. level hunger.
(with information from Reuters)
READ ALSO | Haiti: 24 dead and 40 seriously burned in gas tanker explosion after locals rushed to collect leaking fuel
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only. We make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the post for any purpose.
We respect the intellectual property rights of content creators. If you are the owner of any material featured on our website and have concerns about its use, please contact us. We are committed to addressing any copyright issues promptly and will remove any material within 2 days of receiving a request from the rightful owner.