A weekend massacre in Haiti’s Cite Soleil slum left at least 110 people dead, the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) reported Sunday, marking one of the deadliest episodes in the country’s ongoing security crisis.
The rights group said Wharf Jeremie gang leader Monel “Mikano” Felix ordered the killings targeting residents over 60 years old, following a Voodoo priest’s accusations of witchcraft affecting Felix’s now-deceased child. Gang members carried out the killings Friday and Saturday using machetes and knives.
The violence occurred in Cite Soleil, one of Port-au-Prince’s poorest and most dangerous areas, where tight gang control has restricted residents’ ability to communicate about the attacks. The United Nations estimates Felix’s gang comprises some 300 members operating around Fort Dimanche and La Saline.
The massacre follows October’s killing of 115 people in Pont-Sonde by the Gran Grif gang. Haiti’s government, plagued by political instability, has struggled to contain growing gang influence despite requesting international security assistance. A UN-approved mission remains under-resourced due to limited voluntary contributions, while proposals to convert it into a peacekeeping force face opposition from China and Russia.
