The increasing gang violence in Haiti has led to the mass killing of over 100 nationals, mainly elderly people killed in Cite Soleil slum.

In a report made by Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH), a non-governmental organization on December 8, 2024, it revealed that at least 110 people were killed in massacre which started on Saturday 6, 2024.

According to the RNDDH report, the killings were ordered by gang leader Monel “Mikano” Felix, targeting residents who he accused of causing his child’s illness through witchcraft.

The massacre began on Friday, December 6, when gang members killed nearly 60 individuals using machetes and knives, followed by another 50 on Saturday.

“ All the victims were aged over 60,” they said.

It is alleged that Felix, who heads the Wharf Jeremie gang, ordered the brutal killings after he had sought advice from a Voodoo priest, who accused the elderly people in the area of harming his child through witchcraft.

“The child died on Saturday afternoon,” RNDDH said.

Cite Soleil, the area of the massacre is an extremely impoverished and densely populated slum located in the capital Port-au-Prince, metropolitan area of Haiti.

It is reported that the tight gang control, including the restriction of mobile phone use, has limited residents’ ability to share information about the massacre.

The United Nations in October estimated that Felix’s gang numbered some 300 people and also operated around nearby Fort Dimanche and La Saline, which was the site of the massacre of at least 71 civilians, with hundreds of homes set on fire in November 2018.