12-10-2014: Mass Murder in Haiti Due to Alleged Witchcraft
The death toll from this attack, orchestrated by Monel Félix, known as Mikano, leader of a gang that controls Jéremie Dock, one of the island's main ports, has risen to 184. The reason he allegedly ordered his gang and other collaborators of the Viv Ansanm (the gang alliance in Port-au-Prince, the capital) to murder these people, most of whom were over 60 years old, was that, after consulting a bokò (Voodoo priest) about his son's illness, he was told that the man had been bewitched.
Considering the elderly residents of the area responsible for his son's death, they launched several violent attacks, both before and after the death of Mikano's son. These attacks involved kidnapping and detention, shootings, machete attacks, mutilations, and arson. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime (GI-TOC) has reiterated the difficulty troops face in intervening in a country where organized crime currently has more resources than they do, also indicating that this act was unexpected given its motive, since violence usually stems from clashes between gangs or for control of territory, and not from "revenge for witchcraft."
Haiti is immersed in a criminal nightmare, especially since the assassination of the president in 2021. Known as the island of voodoo, its cultural facet has been diminished by prejudice, and its poor and violent economic status hinders the country's development. News reports in which religious or magical thinking becomes the excuse for a mass murder demonstrate the importance of beliefs, their enduring relevance, and the dangerous dimensions they can take, especially in a place as uncontrolled as it is isolated. Whether it serves as an excuse or not, the very idea of its operation has never been questioned.
Here is a link to the BBC news article in Spanish:
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cj30egdkxl0o
And here is the CNN article in English:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/09/americas/haiti-gang-massacre-voodoo-intl-latam/index.html
Pietro V. Carracedo Ahumada - pietrocarracedo@gmail.com
