Haiti – In the increasing gang violence in Haiti, 180 people were massacred over the weekend, according to National Human Rights Defense Network (Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains, RNDDH), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in the state.
Haiti’s prime minister’s office reported, that 180 people had been slain over the weekend in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Haiti, following attacks that an NGO claimed were carried out by a gang leader named Jean Monel Felix, alias “King Micanor”, who believed his child suffered illness by witchcraft.
At least 110 persons were slain in Cite Soleil, according to RNDDH, which also keeps an eye on governmental institutions and advocates for human rights education.
Later, it claimed that the death toll might be greater and quoted witnesses who claimed that there were mangled remains burning in the streets, including a number of young people slain while trying to save others.
According to RNDDH, Felix ordered the attack after seeing a voodoo priest who claimed that local elders were using witchcraft to damage the youngster. Felix’s child passed on Saturday afternoon, according to the group.
In Haiti, Cite Soleil, a crowded slum near the capital Port-au-Prince, is one of the most impoverished and violent neighborhoods.
Restrictions on cell phone use and rigorous gang control have made it difficult for locals to communicate about the massacre.
Due to political infighting, the government has found it difficult to control the gangs’ increasing influence in and around the city. The armed gangs are believed to have committed ransom kidnappings, gang rapes, indiscriminate killings, and to have contributed to severe food shortages.