A criminal gang controlling a neighborhood in the north of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince on Saturday he shot towards some people who were participating in a protest against the presence of the same criminal groups in the area. The civil rights organization Center d’analyse et de recherche en droits de l’homme (CARDH) says at least seven people were killed. Others were said to have been injured and kidnapped, although it is unclear how many.
Some videos shared on social networks show hundreds of people gathered for the protest march, which was organized by a Christian group in the Canaan neighborhood; some wore a religious group T-shirt, others were holding sticks or machetes in their hands in protest against the criminal groups. Marie Yolène Gilles, director of the Fondasyon Je Klere group, said that at a certain point some members of a local gang began shooting at people with machine guns. Gédéon Jean, the director of CARDH, argues that probably the number of dead will be even higher.
In Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas and one of the poorest in the world, criminal gangs are increasingly powerful. In particular, criminal groups have exploited the many years of alliances with local politicians and the serious crisis in the country following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 to become increasingly influential. In response to their growing presence on the ground, many civilians have joined the movement since last April.”Bwa Kale”, an armed self-defense group that targets precisely people suspected of being part of criminal gangs.
According to UN data, from January 1 to August 15 of this year in Haiti they were killed more than 2,400 people, more than 950 have been kidnapped and over 900 injured in violent episodes linked to criminal gangs. Also according to UN data, in the first six months of the year more than a thousand people were kidnapped by criminal groups for ransom, and around 350 members of criminal organizations killed by civilians who joined the Bwa Kale movement.
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