Gangs launch large-scale attack in Haiti’s central region as hundreds flee gunfire and burning homes
Heavily armed gangs attacked central Haiti over the weekend, killing men, women, and children as they set fire to homes and forced survivors to flee in the dark.
Police made emergency calls for reinforcements, stating that 50% of the Artibonite region had fallen under the control of armed gangs following large-scale attacks that targeted towns such as Bercy and Pont-Sondé.
“The people cannot live, cannot work, cannot move,” declared one of Haiti’s police unions, SPNH-17, on Sunday in X. “Losing the country’s two largest departments, West and Artibonite, is the biggest security failure in Haiti’s modern history.”
Guerby Simeus, an official in Pont-Sondé, said he had confirmed nearly a dozen deaths, including a mother and her son and a local government employee.
“The gangs are still in Pont-Sondé,” he noted, pointing out that no more police had arrived.
Survivors flee towards the coast
Many survivors fled to the coastal city of Saint-Marc, where hundreds of angry people on Monday demanded that the government take action against the gangs that have repeatedly attacked central Haiti.
“ Give me weapons! I’m going to fight the gangs!” exclaimed René Charles, who survived the attack. “We have to rise up and fight!”
The crowd tried to break into the mayor’s office, and an unidentified man said they were no longer going to depend on the government: “We’re going to take justice into our own hands!”
Charlesma Jean Marcos, a political activist, said the gang announced last week that they were going to invade the area, and that they alerted the authorities without success.
“For now, the only people who are really fighting (against the gang) are the self-defense group,” he said. “A country can’t function like this.”
Marcos urged all survivors sleeping on the streets and in public parks to instead sleep inside police stations and government offices until the government can reclaim Artibonite.
“Many people are going to go hungry,” he warned. “We can support you today, we can support you tomorrow, but we can’t support you forever.”
More than half of Haiti’s population is already experiencing crisis-level hunger, with gangs blocking major routes and violence displacing a record 1.4 million people.
A region overrun by gangs
The attacks in central Haiti began late Friday and continued into late Saturday, with gang members broadcasting them live on social media.
The attacks were attributed to the Grand Grif gang, which operates in the area and was responsible for an attack in Pont-Sondé in October 2024 that killed at least 100 people, one of the worst massacres in Haiti’s recent history.
“I heard intense gunfire, so much gunfire,” recalled an unidentified man who criticized the lack of police presence , saying he was trapped inside his house all weekend until Monday morning. “Why don’t they send drones to Artibonite? They only use drones in Port-au-Prince. I feel like this gang is special, like they don’t want to destroy it . ”
A spokesman for the Haitian National Police did not respond to a message seeking comment.
The Grand Grif is considered one of the most ruthless gangs in Haiti . Its leader, Luckson Elan, was recently sanctioned by the UN Security Council and the US government. Prophane Victor, a former legislator whom the UN accused of arming young people in the Artibonite region, was also sanctioned.
The UN has said that killings have risen sharply in Haiti’s Artibonite and Centre departments this year, with 1,303 victims reported from January to August, compared with 419 during the same period in 2024.
“ These attacks underscore the gangs’ ability to consolidate control along a corridor from Centre to Artibonite amid a limited law enforcement presence and logistical constraints ,” a recent UN report stated.
Fritz Alphonse Jean, a member of Haiti’s presidential transition council that was sanctioned by the United States last month and seeks to oust the current prime minister, condemned the latest attacks.
