/
RSS Feed
A funeral was held on Tuesday for Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, 41, one of the victims of a brutal gang attack in Haiti that left over 70 people dead and many others injured. The simple but emotional ceremony took place in Pont-Sondé, attended by his 14-year-old son, his wife Ovenia Joaunis, and grieving family members and friends.
The massacre, which occurred last Thursday, has been described as one of the worst in Haiti’s recent history. Gracien’s uncle, Elvens François, recalled the horrifying night as he prepared for the burial. He remembered trying to flee when three men armed with automatic weapons surrounded him. “They attacked me, cornered me, and took everything,” François recounted tearfully, still unsure why his life was spared.
Survivors and locals blamed the Haitian government for failing to protect them from the Gran Grif gang, who orchestrated the assault. One survivor, identified only as Jacques, sat at the cemetery gripping a machete. He described how gang members hid in an old factory, shooting at passersby. “The state is responsible. If they had sent armed forces, these people wouldn’t have died like this,” he said.
Frantz Baptism, a security guard, collected bullet shells scattered in the streets after the attack. He recalled seeing a local self-defense group trying to push the gang out, but when they returned, they were met with the grim sight of bodies strewn across the area. According to Haiti’s National Human Rights Defence Network, the self-defense group’s efforts to curb gang activities, including a road toll set up by the gang, were what triggered the massacre.
Once a vibrant town by the Artibonite River, Pont-Sondé now stands desolate, with padlocked homes and bullet-riddled walls. Romain Le Cour, a senior expert on Haiti with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, described the Pont-Sondé massacre as “the most terrifying in decades.” Previously, such violence had been largely confined to Port-au-Prince, where gangs control 80% of the city.
Kenyan police, leading a U.N.-backed mission to restore order, are now patrolling the capital, though they face significant challenges due to a lack of resources and personnel.
