On 13 November 2018, a

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

began within the La Saline

slums A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily in ...

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. According to reports, at least 71 civilians were killed over a 24-hour period. It is alleged that the killings were either due to local gang wars or the actions of Haitian officials attempting to quell anti-corruption protests.

Background

In October 2017,

UN peacekeepers Peacekeeping by the United Nations is a role of the United Nations's Department of Peace Operations and an "instrument developed by the organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict to create the conditions for lasting peace". It is ...

ended their mission in Haiti after 13 years. Since the departure of the UN, the number of gang-controlled areas in the city has apparently grown. The massacre occurred in the middle of various protests within Haiti:

Jovenel Moïse Jovenel Moïse (; ; 26 June 1968 – 7 July 2021) was a Haitian politician and Businessperson, businessman who served as President of Haiti from 2017 until Assassination of Jovenel Moïse, his assassination in 2021. Moïse assumed the preside ...

was elected president in November 2016, but protestors saw him as corrupt.

Incident

Witness reports state that a police truck carrying uniformed men arrived in Port-au-Prince's La Saline slums at around 3 pm on 13 November 2018. The men then opened fire upon civilians, while local gang members killed others with gunfire and machetes. According to witnesses, as well as a human-rights group, at least 21 men were killed in the massacre. A local human-rights group, Fondasyon Je Klere, estimated that between 15 and 25 people were killed.

Arrests

According to police, one person has been arrested in connection with the killings.

Identity of perpetrators

Fondasyon Je Klere suggested links between armed gangs, corrupt police officers and government officials may point towards the perpetrators of the massacre. Those who witnessed the massacre alleged that the killers may have been corrupt police officers, leading the National Police chief to suspend two officers accused of involvement in the killings.

Responses

The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

has launched an investigation into the killings. In December 2020, the United States

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, United States Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade economic sanctions, ...

announced sanctions against

Jimmy Chérizier Jimmy Chérizier (; born 30 March 1977), nicknamed Barbecue (), is a Haitian gang leader, former police officer, and warlord who is the head of the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies (), abbreviated as "G9" or "FRG9", a federation ...

, a former officer who became a gang leader, Fednel Monchery, and

Joseph Pierre Richard Duplan Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, two officials in the Moise administration, for their alleged involvement in the massacre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Port-au-Prince massacre,2018 Haitian crisis (2018–present) Massacres in Haiti November 2018 in Haiti 2018 in Haiti Massacres in 2018 2018 crimes in Haiti