A gang leader in Haiti is accused of massacring older people to avenge his son's death
A gang leader who controls a key port in Haiti’s capital is accused of massacring older people and Vodou religious leaders in his community to avenge his son's death
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A gang leader who controls a key port in Haiti's capital is accused of massacring older people and Vodou religious leaders in his community to avenge his son's death, according to the government and human rights organizations that estimate more than 100 were killed.
Reports on the number of dead in Port-au-Prince can vary wildly in a country where such killings often occur in gang-controlled, largely inaccessible areas.
Haiti’s government in a statement Monday acknowledged the massacre, saying over 100 were killed in the Cité Soleil neighborhood, and promised to bring to justice those responsible for “this unspeakable carnage.”
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the ongoing violence, which saw the killing of “at least 184 people, including 127 elderly men and women, between December 6-8 in the Wharf Jérémie neighborhood of Cite Soleil,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The U.N. did not respond to queries on how it obtained those figures.
