The killings were reportedly orchestrated by a local gang leader who blamed the death of his son on Voodoo practitioners.
At least 184 people, primarily elderly men and women, were killed in Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince over the weekend, according to UN estimates.
The massacre is believed to have been orchestrated by Monel Felix, known as Mikano, a local gang leader in control of the Wharf Jeremie port area. The killings were reportedly confined largely to the Cite Soleil, an impoverished and densely populated district of the city.
“This past weekend, at least 184 people were killed in violence orchestrated by the leader of a powerful gang in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk has said.
The massacre was apparently prompted by a disagreement between Mikano and local practitioners of Voodoo, a syncretic religion widespread in Haiti and commonly associated with witchcraft and black magic. The gang leader reportedly approached a Voodoo priest after his son fell ill and died, and while it was not immediately clear how exactly the meeting went, Mikano became enraged and ordered the killings.
“He decided to cruelly punish all elderly people and voodoo practitioners who, in his imagination, would be capable of sending a bad spell on his son,” Committee for Peace and Development, a local civil group, has said in a statement.
“The gang’s soldiers were responsible for identifying victims in their homes to take them to the chief’s stronghold to be executed,” it added.
According to local media reports, the victims of the massacre were tortured and executed, with their mutilated bodies burned in the streets afterwards. The UN has strongly condemned the massacre, stating the latest flareup brings the tally of victims of Haitian gang violence to 5,000 this year.
The Caribbean nation has endured decades of political instability and violence. The situation spiraled out of control in 2021, when the country’s president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated.
Haiti effectively ended up in the hands of a confederation of criminal gangs until a transitional council was established earlier this year. The body has been tasked with picking a new president, prime minister, and cabinet in the hope that a proper government will be able to quell the unrest.
