Fourteen bodies were found Monday in an affluent suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. Neighbors said the Laboule and Thomassin neighborhoods in the Petion-Ville suburb had been attacked by armed criminals since dawn. Witnesses said gang members attacked a bank, a gas station and homes in the area.
In the afternoon, gunshots could still be heard in Petion-Ville. “They came with balaclavas in their cars, on motorcycles, in their own ambulances and massacred the people of Petion-Ville,” said local resident Vincent Jean Robert. A judge narrowly escaped an attack on his home, a relative of the judge says.
“I was on my motorcycle when they arrived and started shooting,” a motorcycle taxi driver named Cadet told AFP. “We don’t know if bandits or the police are behind this.”
Gangs control 80 percent of the capital
Haiti is suffering a massive wave of gang violence, and the humanitarian situation in the Caribbean country has noticeably deteriorated in recent weeks. Criminal gangs now control large parts of the country and about 80 percent of the capital. They are accused of numerous crimes, including murder, rape and ransom extortion. According to the UN, about 362,000 Haitians are displaced in the country, more than half of whom are children. Nearly half of Haiti’s approximately eleven million inhabitants suffer from acute hunger.
The situation in the country deteriorated at the end of February during Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s trip abroad. Armed gang members attacked police stations and freed thousands of prisoners from prisons. They called for the resignation of Henry, who has been in power since 2021 and who was supposed to leave the office of prime minister at the beginning of February. A few days ago, Henry finally announced his resignation.
Source: Krone
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