THE NEW YORK TIMES: At least 47 people killed in massacre in once-safe wealthy suburb of Haiti’s capital

Dozens of people were killed this week in a massacre in a hilly, long-safe Haitian town, raising fears that gangs could encroach on a nearby suburb of the capital that is considered a last bastion of peace, the authorities and human rights activists said.

The United Nations said that gangs killed at least 47 people over several hours on Sunday night into Monday morning in Kenscoff, a once-bucolic area just south of Pétion-Ville, an upper-class suburb of Haiti’s capital.

The victims included 22 people who were executed at a church where they had sought safety, the U.N. spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said.

Gang members entered the town on motorbikes about 9.30 pm and went on a rampage, burning homes, killing people, raping women and taking hostages, the authorities said. It was the first time that gangs had approached downtown Kenscoff, near the police station.

The city’s mayor, Jean Massillon, said Monday night the number of dead had not been confirmed. His preliminary count, based on figures provided by the police and the judicial authorities, were 25 people killed, 25 homes burned, a school partly burned and 10 people who suffered gunshot wounds. At least 15 other people were still missing and many more were wounded, he said.

The higher death toll figure cited by the UN could be a combination of those counted at morgues, and missing people, Massillon said.

“We have absolutely no news of these missing people,” he said in an interview.

“I believe this attack was triggered by a failure in the security measures.”

The Haitian National Police declined to comment.

Among those whose homes was targeted was Jean William Pape, a renowned doctor known as Bill, who runs Gheskio, a large AIDS and TB clinic in Port-au-Prince, the capital, The Miami Herald reported. Pape could not be reached for comment.

Kenscoff, which has historically served as a cooler mountain retreat for middle-class and wealthy Haitians, is about 10km southeast of the capital. It borders Pétion-Ville, a suburb containing most of the diplomatic posts and functioning hotels that host government meetings.

“This is to terrify and intimidate the population and get strategic,” said Bill O’Neill, the United Nations’ human rights expert on Haiti. “Kenscoff is really important. It’s above the hills above Pétion-Ville, and if they start coming down from there, then you’re talking about hitting the one part of the capital where the government is, where the Karibe Hotel is, where all the embassies are.”

O’Neill said that one video he saw showed a gang member holding dozens of hostages and warning that they would be killed if the government tried to retaliate with drone strikes. The mayor said the authorities were trying to identify the location where the video had been filmed.

“Morale in the community is low,” Massillon said. “The dead are people I know, members of the community who lost their lives in a heinous act.”

Haiti’s prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, released a statement calling for quick action.

“Make no mistake: This mourning is also a challenge, and to this challenge, the government responds with the force of the law and the legitimate exercise of public force,” he said. “All security forces are on high alert. Reinforcements are being deployed.”

The massacre comes at a time of heightened tensions in Haiti, where gangs that took over key roads and entire communities have wreaked havoc for several years, preventing elections and forcing about 1.5 million people from their homes.

Experts said the killings were seen as a message to the international community, which has backed a 5,500-person international force to fight back against the gangs and help hold elections. The force has not yet been staffed to full capacity.

A spokesperson for the gang-suppression force did not respond to requests for comment.

Gang violence worsened after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and skyrocketed in early 2024, when several armed groups joined forces. The US State Department estimates that the gangs have about 3000 well-armed fighters.

Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, the director of the Haiti and Caribbean Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Global Transnational Organized Crime, said the Kenscoff attack was similar to guerrilla warfare in an insurgency attack.

The gangs first encroached the Kenscoff area about a year-and-a-half ago. They have been attacking villages and installing check points to extract money from businesses and drivers, he said.

“Small numbers of people, extremely mobile, attack usually at night, and they attack areas that you don’t have enough police and armed people to defend,” Le Cour said. “The narrative is: If you control Kenscoff, you just have to drive down the mountain to Pétion-Ville.”