Port-au-Prince: Armed gangs launched a violent assault on Haiti’s capital in the early hours of Tuesday, killing residents in the Delmas 30 neighborhood and forcing more people to flee as criminal groups continue to operate with impunity across the Caribbean nation.
The escalating gang violence has left more than 1 million Haitians—nearly 10% of the country’s population—internally displaced. These well-funded and loosely allied gangs have cemented their control over vast areas of the capital and its surroundings, deepening the humanitarian crisis.
Haitian police did not respond to requests for comment.
“We haven’t slept since the day before yesterday because everyone was panicking,” said local resident Alex Josue, who estimated that around 15 people had been killed.
“I have a friend who sells meat at the Delmas 30 market, and they burned him in front of his child,” he said. “A woman who lived very close to me was taken with her child, and they burned them.”
“I don’t know whether to go up or down, left or right,” Josue added. “Wherever the gangs go, we run.”
Rosy Auguste Ducena, program director for local rights group RNDDH, said her organization had yet to determine the total number of casualties but confirmed reports of multiple killings, shootings, and houses set on fire.
“According to the information we’ve received, the armed gangs are on the rampage. They attack several areas at the same time, and it’s always the same modus operandi: murder, arson, gunshot wounds, rape, and so on,” Ducena said.
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“Each time, the victims try to flee and find refuge in often unlikely places,” she added.
Residents of Delmas 30 could be seen fleeing with mattresses and other belongings on their heads. One man pushed a corpse in a wheelbarrow.
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A local resident, speaking anonymously, said the area had been under attack since 1 a.m. (0600 GMT) and pleaded for help from Jimmy Cherizier, a former policeman leading the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which seeks to transition into a political party.
“The population is fleeing, they don’t know where to go,” the resident said. “What have we done to you?”
