Anger flared in Haiti this week amid a months-long escalation in violence that, according to the United Nations, plunges the country into a “country at war” scenario. In one of the bloodiest episodes, more than a dozen alleged they were stoned and burned alive this Monday by the inhabitants of a district of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Monday’s violent attack came after police arrested the gunmen amid rising tensions in the capital.
“While searching a minibus carrying armed people, the police seized weapons and other equipment. On the other hand, more than a dozen people traveling in this vehicle were sadly lynched by members of the population,” the police said. Haitian police in a statement.
The police did not specify the exact number of victims, nor the circumstances in which they lost custody of the suspects, who were later murdered by the inhabitants of the wealthy Canapé-Vert district, south of Port-au-Prince. According to some sources, the alleged dead gang members would be 13.
The attack has revealed that the population is fed up with the increasingly illegal situation in Port-au-Prince, where criminal groups have taken control of around 60% of the city since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
A witness who gave his name as Edner Samuel told the Associated Press that the mob carried off the suspected gang members, they beat and stoned them, then covered them with tires, doused them in petrol and set them on fire.
An AP reporter at the scene saw 13 bodies burning on a street.
The flames drew hundreds of spectators to the city’s mountainous suburb, many holding their noses to avoid inhaling the smoke. So far, the Canape Vert neighborhood has avoided falling under the control of gangs.
Samuel said the suspects were believed to be heading to another area of the city to join a group of gang members fighting the police. Another witness, Jean Josue, claimed to have heard many hits in the area since early morning.
Assaults and justice by one’s own hand
Is that the violence had started before dawn, when groups of gang members broke into several residential neighborhoods of the capital, they robbed houses and attacked neighbors, according to witnesses.
“The sound of bullets woke us up this morning. It was three in the morning, gangs invaded us. There were shots,” a resident of the Turgeau neighborhood, also south of the capital, told AFP.
“If gangs invade us, we will defend ourselves, we even have our weaponswe have machetes, we will take their weapons, we will not run away,” added another neighbor, very tense.
The situation in the capital remained tense and shots were heard from different quarters.
Later, in the area around Turgeau, just a few minutes’ drive from Canape Vert, witnesses said police had killed six suspected gang members in a drive-by shooting and that area residents had dragged the bodies from where they had been. killed in a central place and set fire to it.
The AP was unable to independently verify those accounts.
Witnesses from Canape Vert said the suspects were believed to be members of the Kraze Barye gang, which translates to “Breaking Barriers.”
Authorities say the group is led by Vitel’Homme Innocent, who is accused of helping to kidnap 17 American missionaries in October 2021 and who is also linked to the murder of Moïse.
United Nations alert
Earlier, the UN said insecurity in the Haitian capital has reached levels “comparable to those of a country at war”, in a report in which he highlighted the significant increase of murders and kidnappings in the country.
“The Haitian people are victims of one of the worst human rights crises in decades and are in a situation of great humanitarian emergency,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the report.
“The high number of deaths and the growing area controlled by armed gangs mean that insecurity in the capital has reached levels comparable to those in countries in situations of armed conflict,” he added.
Between January 1 and March 31, the period covered by the report, the number of homicides in the Caribbean island increased by 21% compared to the previous quarter (815 against 673), and the number of kidnappings by 63% (637 against 391).
Armed gangs “continue to contest control of land in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and extend into neighborhoods that were hitherto free” from criminal violence, according to the report.
This means that “the situation of people living in areas controlled by armed gangs is appalling” and “it is radically deteriorating in areas that have been new targets of gangs”.
The report highlighted in particular the situation of the inhabitants of the Cité Soleil district, on the outskirts of the capital, where snipers shoot pedestrians from rooftops.
“Fighting is raging in the Cité Soleil,” the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Haiti said on Sunday.
Source: AFP and AP
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.