PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Gang members attacked a small city in central Haiti early Thursday, killing greater than 20 individuals, together with youngsters, in keeping with a human rights group.
One other 50 individuals have been injured because the Gran Grif gang burned properties and vehicles within the city of Pont-Sondé, mentioned Bertide Harace, spokeswoman for the Fee for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Consciousness to Save the Artibonite.
“Lots of people ran and left the realm,” she instructed Radio Kiskeya.
A video posted on social media reveals a bunch of individuals fleeing via the comb, with one lady who was out of breath saying, “Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go.” In one other video, dozens of individuals begin working via a avenue after listening to rumors that the gang was approaching.
Harace and others criticized police within the close by coastal metropolis of Saint-Marc, saying they didn’t mobilize to assist individuals being attacked in Pont-Sondé.
Venson François, a authorities prosecutor based mostly in Saint-Marc, referred to as the assault a “bloodbath” in an interview with Radio Caraïbes.
Dozens of individuals crowded round a hospital in Saint-Marc the place the injured have been taken, with one man telling reporters that native authorities are usually not doing sufficient to guard individuals.
The assault in Pont-Sondé was blamed on the Gran Grif gang. It operates within the central Artibonite area, and specialists have described it as one among Haiti’s cruelest gangs. It has gained management of extra territory since 2022 below the management of Luckson Elan, who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Division final month.
In January 2023, the Gran Grif gang was accused of attacking a police station in Liancourt, positioned close to Pont-Sondé, and killing at the least six officers. Violence unleashed by the gang additionally pressured the closure of a hospital in February 2023 that serves greater than 700,000 individuals.
Former Haitian legislator Prophane Victor, who represented the Artibonite division, started arming younger males who ultimately shaped the Gran Grif gang to safe his election and management over the realm, in keeping with a U.N. report. The U.S. additionally sanctioned Victor final month.
The gang has about 100 members and has been accused of crimes together with homicide, rape, robberies and kidnappings, in keeping with the report.
Whereas a lot of the gang violence is concentrated within the capital of Port-au-Prince, it has unfold in recent times to the Artibonite area, the place a lot of Haiti’s meals is produced.
