The Prime Minister’s Office in Haiti said on Monday (December 9) that around 180 people were killed by local gangs over the weekend in the Cite Soleil area of Haiti.
According to Reuters, the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) in Haiti stated that a gang leader suspected that his child had fallen ill due to witchcraft and ordered the massacre.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office in Haiti expressed that the brutal actions of the gang “have crossed a red line”, and they will mobilize all forces to track down and eradicate the perpetrators, including gang leader Monel “Mikano” Felix of the Wharf Jeremie gang, whom the office accuses of orchestrating the attack.
RNDDH revealed that all the victims were over the age of 60. The human rights organization disclosed that Felix’s child died last Saturday afternoon.
Reports indicate that gang members killed at least 60 people last Friday, and then another 50 people with machetes and knives on Saturday. Subsequent reports suggest that the death toll could be even higher.
Cite Soleil is a densely populated slum near the port of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, and is one of the poorest and most violent areas in the country. Strict gang control, including restrictions on cell phone usage, has limited residents’ ability to expose information about this massacre.