PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — At least 207 people were killed in a brutal massacre carried out earlier this month by members of the Wharf Jérémie gang in Cité Soleil, a densely populated neighborhood in Haiti’s capital, according to a United Nations report released on Monday.
The revised death toll marks an increase from the initial estimate of 187.
The report, issued by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, described a week of mass executions, abductions, and raids conducted by approximately 300 gang members. Among the victims were 134 men and 73 women, most of them elderly residents accused of witchcraft.
The violence was allegedly ordered by Monel “Mikano” Felix, the gang’s leader, after his child fell ill. Felix reportedly blamed local residents, accusing them of using Voudou to harm his family. Victims were abducted from Voudou temples and ceremonies before being killed, the U.N. said.
The massacre has sent shockwaves through Haiti, a nation already grappling with a deepening gang conflict, widespread food insecurity, and a lack of international intervention despite long-standing promises of assistance.
For over 15 years, Mikano’s gang has controlled a critical area between major ports, surrounding warehouses, and national highways leading out of Port-au-Prince, according to the U.N. After the killings, gang members reportedly sought to destroy evidence by confiscating mobile phones, burning bodies, and dumping remains into the sea.
The grim tally adds to an escalating death toll in Haiti, where more than 5,300 people have been killed since January and over 12,000 since the beginning of 2022, the U.N. reported. Additionally, more than 700,000 people have been internally displaced amid the country’s ongoing crisis.
Haiti’s worsening security situation has drawn condemnation but little concrete action from the international community. As the country’s humanitarian and political crises deepen, calls for a coordinated global response grow increasingly urgent.
