[Haiti’s Government Says Gangs Crossed “Red Line” After Massacre of 180 People
Haiti’s government has accused gangs of crossing a “red line” after allegedly killing over 180 people over the weekend. The massacre occurred in the impoverished Cité Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city.
According to the Haiti Prime Minister’s office, gang leader Micanor “Mikanò” Altès and associates carried out the massacre on December 6 and 7, targeting elderly residents in the Wharf Jérémie area. The killings were allegedly triggered by the severe illness of Micanor’s child, which he believed was caused by witchcraft.
Micanor sought advice from a Voodoo priest, who accused elderly people in the area of practicing witchcraft and harming the child. On Friday, December 6, Micanor shot and killed at least 60 elderly individuals. On Saturday, December 7, he and his group killed at least 50 more using machetes and knives.
The attack targeted “all elderly people and Voodoo practitioners who, in (Mikanor’s) imagination, would be capable of casting a bad spell on his son,” according to sources in the area. The bodies of victims were left mutilated in the streets.
At least 184 people were killed in the massacre, including an estimated 127 elderly men and women, according to the United Nations. The deaths bring the total number of people killed in Haiti this year to 5,000.
Since the massacre, Wharf Jérémie remains “under an informal siege” with elderly residents and Voodoo adherents still targeted by the broader Haitian gang alliance Viv Ansamn.
Haiti’s transitional government has promised to find and bring the perpetrators to justice. “A red line has been crossed, and the State will mobilize all its forces to track down and annihilate these criminals,” a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
The gang-driven chaos in Haiti has prompted the international community to send a multinational policing force to the Caribbean nation over the summer, but the so-called MSS has so far failed to curb Port-au-Prince’s extreme violence. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged member states to provide more support to the multinational mission and called for an investigation into the massacre.
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