A massacre in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, earlier this month has claimed the lives of more than 207 people, according to a report from the United Nations. The victims, many of them elderly, were brutally killed in a gang-ordered manhunt allegedly motivated by accusations of voodoo practices.
A total of 207 people—134 men and 73 women—were killed over six days, the UN report confirmed.
The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) confirmed that the majority of the victims were elderly individuals accused by the Wharf Jérémie gang of practicing voodoo. The accusations stemmed from claims that these practices caused the illness of the gang leader’s child.
“The elderly were particularly targeted because of a widespread perception among some sectors of the Haitian population that they were practitioners of vodou and witchcraft. According to credible sources, as a devout follower of vodou, Wharf gang leader Jérémie personally knew those who regularly participated in ceremonies in the neighborhood,” the report stated.
On December 6, gang leader Micanor Altes, also known as Jérémie, ordered approximately 300 gang members to storm the Wharf Jérémie neighborhood. They dragged victims from their homes and a place of worship, accusing them of witchcraft. Those who tried to flee or were suspected of leaking information to the media were also targeted.
The victims were taken to the gang’s stronghold, held captive, and interrogated inside what the gang called a “training center.” They were then transported to a nearby execution site, where they were either shot or hacked to death with machetes. The gang attempted to erase evidence by burning the bodies, dismembering them, or dumping them into the sea.
“In early December 2024, after his young son fell seriously ill, Wharf gang leader Jérémie blamed voodoo priests and elderly residents of Wharf Jérémie for the illness. On the evening of December 6, he ordered his gang members (around 300) to conduct a “brutal manhunt,” the report stated.
The Wharf Jérémie gang has been engaged in a violent struggle with the Village de Dieu and Grand Ravine gangs for control of the La Saline port area in Port-au-Prince since June 2022. These gangs, initially part of the Viv Ansanm coalition—a group formed to destabilize the Haitian government—split in May 2024 after the Wharf Jérémie gang refused to cede control of the port. The resulting clashes between the factions have caused at least 331 deaths and 227 injuries.
Jérémie has also sought to position himself as a key intermediary with national and international actors, leveraging his control over the Wharf Jérémie area to gain influence.
