Armed groups ravaged Haiti’s main agricultural areas shortly before the expected arrival of international forces aimed at combating such attacks, killing dozens and forcing thousands to flee their homes.
Human rights groups said gang members attacked the Jean Denis and Pont Sonde neighborhoods in Haiti’s western Artibonite department between Sunday and Monday, shooting civilians and torching houses.
Haitian law enforcement confirmed at least 16 people were killed on Sunday, and rights groups Defenders Plus and RNDDH estimated the death toll had reached 70 by Monday as attacks continued overnight.
Dozens of homes were gutted and nearly 6,000 people were forced to evacuate, according to Defenders Plus.
Bertido Horace, a spokesperson for the Dialogue and Reconciliation Committee to Save the Artibonite Valley, told CNN that gang members divided into groups and launched attacks across multiple areas, barricading roads and digging trenches along access routes.
“Once they arrived in these areas, they started shooting from all directions. They killed several people and caused extensive damage,” Horace said, adding that her team recovered 30 bodies in multiple locations.
Horace told CNN that at first there was no police presence and people were left to fend for themselves, but the gangs “were filming and operating with complete confidence.” By midday Monday, police arrived and the gang began to retreat, she said.
Reginald Fils-Aimé, a doctor based in central Haiti, said his team received at least 15 injured people at the Saint-Nicolas hospital in the town of Saint-Marc in the country’s west, the youngest of whom was just 13 years old. Seven of them underwent major surgery.
The influx of cases is the biggest wave of gang-related activity Filsueme has seen in recent weeks, and he fears there could be more.
The United Nations expressed alarm over the attack.
“This attack highlights the seriousness of the security situation facing the Haitian people. (The United Nations) urges the Haitian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation,” UN Secretary-General Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
Haiti has long struggled with gang violence. A new multinational force known as the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) will soon be deployed to the country to fight the gangs terrorizing the country.
“This massacre is the latest in a series of atrocities that Haitian authorities and the international community have failed to stop,” said Johanna Pelaez, Amnesty International’s Caribbean regional researcher.
“While we await the development of a new international security operation, this incident highlights the urgent need for the Haitian government and the international community to work together to find a lasting solution to the security situation.”
At least 26 gangs are active in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, according to a United Nations report last week, and life has come to a near standstill as armed groups control key routes and cut off vital supplies from the beleaguered region. Some 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes, and more than 5,500 people have been killed between March last year and January this year.
According to the report, the gang has expanded its control far beyond the capital and into Haiti’s Artibonite and Central departments.
Known as Haiti’s “breadbasket,” the Artibonite department is the country’s main agricultural region and is of vital importance in a country where gang-controlled areas face critical food supply shortages.
“It’s very difficult for residents to return to this area,” Horace told CNN of the recent attacks. “Because of the presence of gangs that destroyed everything in their path.”
“They not only destroyed their families, they destroyed their homes, their belongings, everything they owned,” she said.
