Armed gangs massacre Haitians and torch town north of the capital
.JPG "Flanked by members of the G9 gang coalition, leader Jimmy Cherizier, aka Barbecue, right, talks to reporters near the perimeter wall that encloses Terminal Varreux in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 6, 2021. The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Friday, Oct. 21, 2022 demanding an immediate end to violence and criminal activity in Haiti and imposing sanctions on Barbecue, a former police officer.")
At least 11 Haitians were massacred by armed gangs in a rural town north of Port-au-Prince, the locality’s interim leader confirmed Thursday.
“The situation is still very difficult for us,” Joseph Jeanson Guillaume, the town’s interim executive, told the Miami Herald. “The gangs are still here; we really need national and international assistance.”
Guillaume first confirmed the massacre in a communique. He said that Tuesday night an armed group with “large guns” opened fire on the residents in Source-Matelas, which is part of Cabaret, the city just north of the capital. The incident occurred around 9 p.m.
“They burned more than 20 houses, massacred and burned more than 20 women and men,” he said. A gang member was also killed, bringing the total dead to 12.
While offering his sympathies to the family, Guillaume called on officials in the Haiti National Police and the justice system “to do all that they can” to bring to justice the individuals who are responsible. He placed the blamed on armed gangs.
“The people of Source-Matelas need to find justice,” he said.
Guillaume said he’s not certain why his residents were attacked, but believes one reason could have been their resistance to the armed bandits as they tried to move into the community and take over territory.
“The population said, ‘No,’ ” he said. “So that’s maybe one of the reasons. They saw that they could not easily move in and so they organized a massacre.”
The massacre is the latest in a series of horrifying and brutal acts that have been committed against Haitians in recent weeks. Some have occurred outside of Port-au-Prince, where gangs are beginning to take root as residents flee the capital, while others are occurring in communities inside the metropolitan area.
Along with the killings, kidnappings continue to rise. The most recent data collected by the Haiti National Police show that in the month of October Port-au-Prince had 139 reported kidnappings. Of the victims, 105 were male, including six minor boys, while 34 were female, including seven minor girls.
The incidence of kidnappings were particularly high in the West Department, where Port-au-Prince is located, as well as the department of the Artibonite, just north. Cabaret is located between the West and Artibonite departments.
Cabaret, the local leader said, is “flooded with gangs.” He asked for increased police reinforcements for the region. Since gangs locked down the country in September, creating a fuel shortage, Guillaume said the number of officers at the Cabaret police station had been reduced.
Since the recent killings, the town has received additional police backup with specialized officers. But the community still needs additional help, he said.
In recent months, gangs have been quietly moving to seize control of territories north of Port-au-Prince. While one group, for example, maintained control of Haiti’s key fuel terminal, Varreux in Port-au-Prince, other armed groups began occupying areas around the private port of Lafito and the village of Titanyen, where victims of the 2010 earthquake are buried in mass graves
The gang influx has prevented movement in the area, including at a flour mill, and blocked the delivery of thousands of containers of food and other cargo stored at the port. National Road No. 1, which connects Cabaret and Port-au-Prince., has also been blocked.
The worsening gang problem recently led Prime Minister Ariel Henry to request that the international community send a multinational armed force to Haiti. Despite support from United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and the Biden administration, there have been no takers from the international community.
This story was originally published December 1, 2022 at 7:39 PM.
