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A gang in Haiti kills more than 180 people

2024-12-09 21:18:18, Kosova & Bota CNA

About 180 people were killed over the weekend in the Cite Soleil neighborhood near Haiti's capital, the country's prime minister's office said Monday, in attacks that a non-governmental organization said were ordered by a gang leader who suspected his child had fallen ill after they had done magic.

"The red line was crossed," the prime minister's office said in a statement, emphasizing that "all forces would be mobilized" to bring to justice all those responsible, including the leader of the gang, Monel "Mikano" Felix, who is accused that he planned the attack.

According to the statement, most of the victims were elderly.

The National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH), a non-governmental organization in Haiti that monitors state institutions and promotes human rights education, said on Sunday that at least 110 people, all over the age of 60, were killed in Cite Soleil over the weekend.

According to this organization, the toll could be higher as it quoted witnesses as saying that "mutilated bodies were burned on the streets, including some young people who were killed while trying to save residents."

The RNDDH network said Monel "Mikano" Felix had ordered the attack after his child fell ill and after seeking advice from a priest of the 'vodou' religious sect who accused the elderly in the area of ??harming children through witchcraft. According to the organization, Felix's child had died on Saturday afternoon.

The Reuters news agency could not independently verify the data reported by the National Network for the Protection of Human Rights (NRDDH).

Monel "Mikano" Felix did not comment on the allegations.

Cite Soleil, a densely populated slum near the port of the capital Port-au-Prince, is among the poorest and most violent areas of Haiti.

Tight gang control, including restricting cellphone use, has limited residents' ability to share information about the massacre.

The government, embroiled in political infighting, has failed to curb the growing power of gangs in and around the capital. Armed groups are accused of indiscriminate killings, gang rapes, kidnappings and inciting food shortages./ VOA