The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Haiti (BNUH) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that 134 men and 73 women were executed between December 6 and 11.
Most of the victims were elderly people accused of practicing voodoo and sickening the gang leader’s child.
Other dead include people who tried to flee the area for fear of reprisals, or who were suspected of giving information about the crime to the local media.
Killing by bullet or knife
Victims of these killings were seized from their homes and places of worship and taken to gang strongholds, where they were held and interrogated in a so-called “training center.”
They are then taken to a slaughterhouse where they are shot or knifed to death. The group tried to destroy all evidence by burning or dismembering the bodies and then throwing them into the sea.
“We cannot act as if nothing has happened,” said Maria Isabel Salvador, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative to Haiti and head of BNUH.
“I call on the Haitian justice system to thoroughly investigate these horrific crimes and arrest and punish their perpetrators as well as those who support them,” he said.
“I call on the authorities to form a special judiciary to deal with such crimes.”
Dangerous levels of violence
Since 2022, the Wharf Jeremy gang has been battling rival gangs for control of the roads leading to the capital’s main port and its container terminal.
This year alone, BINUH and OHCHR reported more than 5,350 deaths and more than 2,155 injuries as a direct result of this violence.
In addition, gang leaders impose “taxes” on port management companies, particularly on container releases, as well as trucking companies transporting goods through the port.
The gang leader established himself as an important intermediary for national and international groups wishing to reach out to the local population living at Wharf Jeremy.
According to the report, reliable sources have also revealed that special units of the Haitian National Police (PNH) are also involved in these crimes.