The death toll from the Pont-Sondé massacre by the “Gran Grif” gang on October 3 now stands at 115 victims. Haitian authorities are struggling to access certain areas and fear that this number will continue to increase. An international investigation is requested, but the situation remains chaotic.
Published on October 12, 2024 at 1:00 p.m.
On Wednesday October 9, Myriam Fièvre, mayor of the neighboring town of Saint-Marc, announced that the partial death toll from the Pont-Sondé massacre, which took place on October 3, now stands at 115 dead. An initial UN report put the number at least 70 people.
And this number could increase further, as authorities struggle to find all the bodies and certain areas of the city remain inaccessible.
The victims included babies, young mothers and the elderly, in what is considered one of the largest massacres in Haiti’s recent history.
The attack is attributed to the “Gran Grif” gang, led by Luckson Elan, a leader recently sanctioned by the United States for serious human rights violations.
This gang, which has around a hundred members, is accused of numerous crimes, including murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping. According to the United Nations, “Gran Grif” was formed nearly a decade ago, when former lawmaker Prophane Victor armed young people to secure his election.
Today, the gang is considered the most powerful in the Artibonite region.
The attack left deep trauma among the local population. More than 6,300 residents of Pont-Sondé have fled to Saint-Marc, where the majority are temporarily housed with relatives. However, nearly a thousand people are left homeless, sleeping on the ground in churches, schools and public squares, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Mayor Myriam Fièvre expressed concern about the sudden influx of displaced people, adding that the “Gran Grif” gang is infiltrating neighboring communities. “We work to guarantee the protection of the population“, she declared, while warning of the growing danger posed by these armed groups. According to
The Pont-Sondé massacre also caused massive destruction: 45 houses and 34 vehicles were burned by the gang, forcing thousands of residents to flee. The UN denounced this horror in a statement, calling on the international community to provide increased financial and logistical assistance to the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMAS) in Haiti, composed mainly of Kenyan police officers.
The survivors of Pont-Sondé criticize the lack of responsiveness of the authorities, especially since the gang had announced its intentions in a video posted on social networks before the attack.
The day after the massacre, Haitian authorities replaced the police commissioner responsible for the Artibonite region, which has seen a surge in gang violence in recent years, with more than twenty criminal groups active in the region.
Since the start of the year, at least 3,661 people have been killed in Haiti due to gang violence. This wave of violence has caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis: more than 700,000 Haitians, half of whom are children, have had to flee their homes. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicated that the majority of internally displaced people are now hosted in the provinces, particularly in the Deep South, where 45% of them have found refuge.
Despite calls from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to fully investigate this attack, bring those responsible to justice and ensure reparations for the victims, the continued instability of Haitian institutions leaves little hope to a rapid resolution of this tragedy.
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