Haiti’s security crisis deepened in central Haiti after a gang renewed an attack on Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, with human rights activists reporting dozens more missing and warning that communication failures made it hard to confirm details on the ground.
The attack began early Sunday with the gang’s assault on Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, activists said, including the burning of homes and bodies left in the streets. On Monday, the violence returned again, and activists said it focused on the Jean-Denis neighborhood, where the gang maintained control, leaving residents with little access to information or to authorities.
Bertide Horace, a spokesperson for the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Awareness to Save the Artibonite, told The Associated Press that the gang remained in control of Jean-Denis and set up roadblocks. She said, by phone, “The area is completely deserted,” and added, “Only the gangs have control.” Horace said her organization had collected “at least 30 bodies” and was investigating reports of people missing.
A human rights lawyer and co-executive director of the Défenseurs Plus group, Antonal Mortimé, told Radio Caraïbes that 70 people were believed killed, based on reports from activists on the ground. Mortimé’s account underscored the difficulty in verifying figures immediately after attacks, when local conditions and communications can deteriorate quickly.
Haiti’s National Police said officers backed by Kenyan police leading a U.N.-supported mission helped rescue people in the Jean-Denis neighborhood. In the police statement, the delay was attributed to gangs digging large holes to prevent police from entering, complicating access even after the response began.
The police statement reported at least 16 people killed and 10 others injured by gunfire. The article noted that estimates can vary widely in the immediate aftermath of gang attacks in Haiti because limited communication and authorities’ inability to enter affected areas can hinder verification.
The gang blamed for the latest violence, Gran Grif, has been operating in the Artibonite region, according to the report. The gang attacked Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite nearly a year earlier, driving dozens of people to flee by swimming and wading across the country’s longest river to escape, and Gran Grif was also blamed for a massacre in Pont-Sondé in October 2024 in which more than 70 people were killed.
A United Nations human rights office had earlier described gangs’ consolidation of control in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and neighboring areas as “unprecedented,” adding that more than 5,500 people were killed in Haiti from March 1, 2025, to Jan. 15. The U.N. described the broader pattern as gangs expanding and consolidating territory, intensifying the risks for civilians as authorities struggle to reach areas controlled by armed groups.