Over the weekend, at least 110 people, all aged over 60, were brutally killed in Haiti’s Cite Soleil slum after a gang leader accused them of witchcraft, according to the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH).
The massacre was reportedly ordered by Wharf Jeremie gang leader Monel “Mikano” Felix, who believed that elderly individuals in the area were responsible for his child’s illness. Felix acted on advice from a Voodoo priest, RNDDH said.
On Friday, gang members killed at least 60 people using machetes and knives, followed by another 50 killings on Saturday. Tragically, Felix’s child died on Saturday afternoon despite the attacks.
Cite Soleil, one of Haiti’s poorest and most violent neighborhoods, is tightly controlled by gangs, making it difficult for residents to communicate details of the atrocities due to restricted mobile phone access.
Felix, who leads a gang of around 300 members according to a 2022 U.N. report, was previously banned from entering the Dominican Republic. His gang also operates in nearby areas like Fort Dimanche and La Saline, which in 2018 was the site of a massacre that claimed at least 71 lives.
The killings are part of a broader pattern of violence in Haiti, where armed gangs wield significant power amid political instability. In October, 115 people were massacred in Pont-Sonde by the Gran Grif gang in retaliation for residents supporting a self-defense group.
Efforts to curb gang violence have been hampered by limited resources. A U.N.-approved international security mission, requested by Haitian authorities in 2022, remains underfunded and only partially deployed. Haitian leaders have called for this mission to be converted into a full-fledged U.N. peacekeeping force, but the proposal faces resistance from China and Russia in the U.N. Security Council.
The humanitarian crisis highlights the urgent need for international support to stabilize Haiti and address the growing power of armed gangs.
