Haiti violence: Gangs film atrocities as country slides into anarchy

Horrific footage on social media shows people being butchered on the streets of Haiti by gang members as the “lawless” Caribbean nation descends into anarchy.

It comes as the United Nations warns that insecurity in the Haitian capital has reached levels similar to countries at war.

Videos and images show corpses lying on concrete being attacked.

Jack Brewer, founder of a global organisation that has been in Haiti since the devastating 2010 earthquakes and a former NFL player turned political activist, discussed the unfolding disaster with conservative radio host and lawyer Jenna Ellis this week.

“To see the devastation that’s going on, it’s unimaginable,” he said.

“It’s actually been this bad for a couple of years but particularly this last week, over the weekend there was a village that got overtaken. The gangs came in and literally took over the village, slaughtered anybody with power so that they then controlled all commerce, everything in and out.”

Mr Brewer said there were already many areas of the country where it was “completely lawless”.

“There’s no police officer presence because the gangs have either overtaken them with their powerful weaponry or they bought them,” he said. “People are fearful of these gangs. You’ve seen the images – you’re talking about people getting beheaded, women, children, being raped at young ages.”

Gang members burned alive

Now, some residents have begun to push back, with more than a dozen suspected gang members burned alive on Monday in Port-au-Prince.

Multiple videos of the incident on social media showed around 14 men lying on the ground surrounded by tyres. Other videos showed the men being burned alive as a large crowd looked on.

“Pour gasoline, pour gasoline,” someone is heard saying in one video, the Miami Herald reported.

According to the newspaper, the men had been travelling on a minibus when it came to a police checkpoint. Officers saw it was packed with young men they suspected were gang members, so they ordered everyone to get off and lie on the ground.

A large crowd then gathered, dragged the men away from police custody, beat them and stoned them, before throwing gasoline-soaked tyres on top of the men and setting fire to them.

“During a search of a minibus in which there were armed individuals, the police confiscated weapons and other equipment,” police said in a statement.

“In addition, more than a dozen individuals travelling in this vehicle were unfortunately lynched by members of the population.”

The police did not specify the exact number of victims, nor expand on the circumstances in which they lost custody of the suspects, who were murdered by residents of the district of the capital called Canape-Vert.

The violence in Port-au-Prince had started before dawn, when gang members burst into several residential areas of the capital, looting homes and attacking residents, according to witnesses.

“It was the sound of projectiles that woke us up this morning. It was 3am; the gangs invaded us. There were shots,” a resident of the neighbouring district of Turgeau told AFP.

“If the gangs come to invade us, we will defend ourselves. We too have our own weapons, we have our machetes, we will take their weapons, we will not flee,” said another resident.

“Mothers who want to protect their children can send them elsewhere.”

In fact, dozens of families left the neighbourhoods caught in the spiral of violence on Monday, AFP journalists confirmed.

Men, women and children fled the scene on foot, carrying a few personal belongings in bags or bundles.

At least three other suspected gang members were killed and then burned around midday, according to photos and videos that were shared online.

‘Humanitarian emergency’

The grisly killings came as the United Nations released a report highlighting the surge in murders and kidnappings in the country.

Armed gangs “continued to compete to expand their territorial control throughout the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, spreading to previously unaffected neighbourhoods”, said the report from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“With the high number of fatalities and increasing areas under the control of armed gangs, insecurity in the capital has reached levels comparable to countries in armed conflict,” it added.

The number of reported homicides in Haiti rose in recent months by 21 per cent, from 673 in the last quarter of 2022 to 815 between January 1 and March 31 this year.

The number of reported kidnappings soared by 63 per cent, from 391 to 637.

“The people of Haiti continue to suffer one of the worst human rights crises in decades and a major humanitarian emergency,” the report said.

Clashes among gangs and with police have “become more violent and more frequent”, claiming many civilian lives, it added.

The human rights situation of people living in gang-controlled areas “remains appallingly poor” and conditions in areas newly targeted by gangs have “worsened significantly”, according to the report.

The document highlighted the dire situation for residents of Cite Soleil, along the capital’s waterfront, where snipers have shot passers-by on the street from rooftops.

“The inhabitants feel besieged. They can no longer leave their homes for fear of armed violence and the terror imposed by the gangs,” the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Haiti said in a separate statement on Sunday.

Between April 14 and 19, clashes between rival gangs left nearly 70 people dead, including 18 women and at least two children, the statement added.

“I reiterate the urgent need for the deployment of an international specialised armed force,” Mr Guterres said in Monday’s report.

In October, Mr Guterres relayed a call for help from Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, asking the Security Council to send assistance to help police restore order.

But while some countries have indicated a willingness to participate, none have come forward to take the lead.

‘They torture you’

A series of natural disasters since 2010, a crippling economy, the Covid pandemic and the subsequent assassination of then-president Jovenel Moïse has pushed Haiti into a state of chaos, and as a result, it is now the poorest nation in the western hemisphere as gangs have taken over.

Last month, a Haitian doctor in Port-au-Prince told Fox News the local gangs had turned to extreme measures with atrocities akin to those reported during the genocide in Rwanda.

Lawlessness, torture, civil war and “The Purge” were all used to describe what the reality looks like for people living within the western borders on the island of Hispaniola.

“Even staying in your house, you don’t feel safe,” the doctor said.

“What you see is people walking in the street with big guns. Guns, like it is a war scene – they have M-16s, AK-47s, Galils. They have grenades, they have smoke, they have everything.”

In a move to assert control over the people of Haiti, the gangs have resorted to extreme violence against the public and those they view as their chief threat – the police.

Kidnappings have not only become a top earner for the gangs, they have perpetuated an ever-escalating situation of terror for Haitian citizens.

“It’s passing to another level,” the doctor said. “Before, they used to kidnap people on the street. Now they are getting inside of people’s homes.”

The doctor explained that initially people with well-paying jobs were targeted at their businesses for ransom payments, but as kidnappings became more prevalent, people stopped leaving their homes.

The gangs instead have begun sending letters containing a threatening bullet, or even breaking into people’s homes to demand exuberant funds – and when families or individuals can’t pay up, the gangs resort to torture, burnings and murder, often in front of family members.

“They kill you. They torture you,” the doctor detailed. “There was a video of a man who was kidnapped. He couldn’t find the money, and they started burning plastic in his hand. Can you imagine the torture?”

The targeted killings have resulted in a near complete loss of the police force in Port-au-Prince, the doctor said.

“There is no police presence. There is no police. It’s completely lawless. If you call the police they’re not coming.”

– With Fox News