Gang leader’s witchcraft accusations sparked Haiti massacre that left 184 dead
Rights group says gang leader ordered massacre with machetes and knives after his child became sick
The UN rights chief said on Monday that 184 people had been killed over the weekend in the Haitian capital, rocked by a spike in gang violence.
“Just this past weekend, at least 184 people were killed in violence orchestrated by the leader of a powerful gang in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, in the Cite Soleil area,” Volker Turk told reporters in Geneva.
“These latest killings bring the death toll just this year in Haiti to a staggering 5,000 people.”
The National Human Rights Defence Network (RNDDH) said on Sunday the gang leader targeted elderly people he suspected of causing his child’s illness through witchcraft.
All the victims were aged over 60, the rights group said.
Wharf Jeremie gang leader Monel “Mikano” Felix ordered the massacre after his child became sick, RNDDH said, saying that he sought advice from a Voodoo priest who accused elderly people in the area of harming the child through witchcraft.
