Nearly 200 people have been killed in Haiti in a recent massacre in the capital’s coastal Cite Soleil, believed to have been ordered by a gang leader who accused the victims of practicing witchcraft against his child. This incident is the latest bout of gang violence in the Caribbean nation, with residents fleeing their homes in fear.
The UN has called on Haitian authorities to investigate the killings and bring the perpetrators to justice. The government and the European Union have also condemned the attacks. The massacre was orchestrated by a gang leader known as Jean Monel Felix, also known as “King Micanor”, who targeted elderly people and Vodou practitioners in the area.
Vodou, a religion central to Haitian culture, has been wrongly associated with negative stereotypes and disinformation. The recent surge in gang violence has brought the death toll in Haiti to 5,000 this year, with gang control over 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The government and a Kenyan-led police mission have struggled to curb the violence, leading to the displacement of over 700,000 Haitians, half of whom are children.
Despite efforts to address the violence, the situation in Haiti remains dire, with rights groups facing limited access to gang strongholds and escalating threats from both gangs and police. The UN and humanitarian organizations have been forced to scale back operations in the face of continued violence.
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