10 killed, one critically injured and eight homes burned by gangs in Haiti’s Artibonite rural communities | BREAKING NEWS

Editor’s Notes: This is a developing story. It will be updated as more information becomes available.

GONAIVES— Families in Terre-Neuve and Gros-Morne—two communes in Haiti’s Artibonite department, about 15 miles and 20 miles north of the department’s capital city of Gonaives—suffered an unprecedented act of terror from armed gangs over the weekend. The attacks on these generally peaceful communities resulted in 10 deaths, including a pregnant woman nearing labor, one critical injury, and eight homes burned. Hundreds of people fled their homes to escape the wrath of the bandits, who retaliated after locals tried to prevent the kidnapping of a school teacher.

Local officials, including Judge Guenael Norguès and Mayor Joanel Rosemond of Terre-Neuve, told The Haitian Times that the violence occurred between Friday night and early Saturday morning. A group of three unidentified armed individuals arrived on motorcycles at the residence of Dieubon Desrameaux, a well-known school teacher and farmer, and kidnapped him.

As the bandits left the house, said Wisline Aristil, the victim’s wife, “ I alerted some community members and cried out for help.” She explained that numerous people quickly woke up and set up barricades on the road, attempting to prevent the bandits from leaving the area with Desrameaux. The kidnappers violently confronted the villagers by shooting at them, killing six people, including Desrameaux and Celibon Pascal, senior pastor of a local church—Bethel, and critically injuring another person whose home was set on fire.

After terrorizing Lagon’s families in Terre-Neuve, the alleged assailants continued their horrific rampage south toward Savanne Carrée, a Gros-Morne communal section, where they killed four more people and burned seven more homes. 

“This was the worst horror that our community had ever seen. We are all devastated and horrified,” mourned Jonès Joseph, a Lagon communal section’s council member. “Haiti’s central government can’t continue ignoring the security vulnerability in the country’s rural communities. Gang violence that has long been an urban phenomenon is now spilling into the countryside.”

Despite persistent demands and efforts to establish a police presence in the area, Joseph lamented that higher authorities in the Artibonite department have yet to facilitate the necessary steps. The small police unit in the city of Terre-Neuve or Gros-Morne could not respond to the gangs’ fury. Not only was it outmanned and outgunned by these gangs based in Ti Bwadòm, a locality north of the city of Gros-Morne, but its intervention was also further handicapped by a lack of reliable infrastructure, notably the road condition.

Mayor Rosemond also called on the highest authorities to assist the beleaguered commune.

Human rights activists like Bresiac Lubien, coordinator of the National Federation of Human Rights Defendants’ Organizations (FENODDH), condemned the attacks and demanded justice for the victims. “This barbaric act against the peaceful families in Lagon and Savanne Carrée is shocking,” Lubien said. “I urge the authorities to take decisive action against the bandits to ensure justice and reparation for the affected families.”

After the violence, a team of departmental judiciary police went to the area and accompanied Judge Norguès for a preliminary investigation. A report will be filed with the regional prosecutor’s office in Gonaïves for follow-up, Judge Norguès confirmed.

These acts of violence highlight the dire security situation in Haiti, where even those in remote communal sections are not spared from gang-related atrocities. The local and national authorities face mounting pressure to restore order and protect the lives and properties of the people.

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