The United Nations has raised the death toll from a recent massacre in Haiti, where dozens of older individuals and Vodou religious leaders were killed by the Wharf Jeremie gang. According to a report released on Monday by the UN Integrated Office in Haiti, between December 6 and 11, more than 207 people were murdered by the gang.
The victims were taken from their homes and a place of worship, subjected to interrogation, and then executed with bullets and machetes. The UN has called on Haitian officials to bring those responsible for the horrific attack to justice.
Earlier this month, human rights groups in Haiti had estimated that more than 100 people were killed in the massacre, but a new investigation by the United Nations has doubled the number of victims to more than 207. María Isabel Salvador, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative in Haiti, stated, “We cannot pretend that nothing happened,” emphasizing the need for accountability. She called on the Haitian justice system to conduct a thorough investigation into the horrific crimes, urging the arrest and punishment of both the perpetrators and their supporters.
Human rights organizations in Haiti have linked the massacre to the death of Micanor Altès’ son, the leader of the Wharf Jeremie gang, who died from an illness, which is believed to have triggered the violent attacks.
The Cooperative for Peace and Development, a human rights group, said that according to information circulating in the community, Altès accused people in the neighborhood of causing his son’s illness.
“He decided to cruelly punish all elderly people and (Vodou) practitioners who, in his imagination, would be capable of casting a bad spell on his son,” the group said in a statement released shortly after news of the massacre emerged.
In Monday’s report, the United Nations said that people were tracked down in their homes and in a place of worship by Altès’ gang, where they were first interrogated and then taken to an execution site.
The United Nations said that the gang tried to erase evidence of the killings by burning bodies, or by dismembering them and throwing them into the sea.
The massacre is the latest humanitarian tragedy in Haiti, where gang violence has intensified since the nation’s president was killed in a 2021 coup attempt.
The Caribbean nation is currently governed by a transitional council that includes representatives from the business community, civil society and political parties, but its government has no control over many areas of the capital city, and gangs are constantly fighting over ports, highways and neighborhoods.
According to the United Nations, more than 5,350 people have been killed in Haiti’s gang wars this year.
