Overview:
Greater than 70 folks have been killed, over 30 injured and dozens of properties burned in an assault in Jean-Denis, Artibonite. Advocacy teams say the Gran Grif gang based mostly in Savien— an affiliate of the Viv Ansanm coalition— carried out the March 28–30 assault, with the toll probably exceeding 100, as violence continues to unfold past the Haitian capital.
Editor’s observe: Fritznel D. Octave, Haiti editor of The Haitian Occasions, contributed to this creating reporting.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — A minimum of 70 folks have been killed, greater than 30 injured and over 50 properties burned in a lethal gang assault in Haiti’s Artibonite area, in response to native advocacy teams. This massacre provides to a number of mass killings recorded in latest months as violence spreads past the capital.
The assault focused Jean-Denis, a piece within the Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite commune, and has been attributed to the closely armed Gran Grif gang, an affiliate of Viv Ansansanm, which operates within the close by Savien space.
The Collective to Save Artibonite, working with Defender Plus, stated on Radio Television Caraïbes that the assault started the night of March 28 and continued by way of Monday morning, March 30, as residents fled in panic.
“I don’t see how I can describe what is occurring in Jean-Denis, within the Pont-Sondé space,” stated Antonal Mortimé of Defender Plus.
“In a single household, three brothers have been killed. In one other, three cousins have already been buried as a result of the our bodies couldn’t be saved, because the gangs had mutilated and crushed them.”
Witnesses stated gunmen entered the world in giant numbers, opening fireplace and concentrating on civilians as households tried to flee. Properties have been burned and whole neighborhoods emptied.
Residents reported that attackers briefly withdrew when police and self-defense teams arrived, however returned after officers left, prolonging the assault.
From Sunday into Monday, the violence continued, with the dying toll nonetheless rising as search efforts uncovered extra our bodies.
Whereas at the least 70 deaths have been confirmed by the native advocacy teams, they stated native officers informed them the quantity may attain between 85 and 100 victims.
André Saint-Louis, coordinator of the Committee for Peace Initiative in Decrease Artibonite, supplied a decrease estimate however confirmed the dimensions of the assault.
“The attackers killed at the least 20 folks, wounded a number of others and set dozens of properties on fireplace,” he informed The Haitian Occasions, including the assault might have initially focused self-defense teams however rapidly unfold to civilians.
No official response to a widening safety disaster
As of Monday, Haitian authorities had not launched an official assertion or casualty figures.
Residents and native leaders criticized what they described as a delayed or inadequate police response, saying communities have been left to defend themselves.
“Is it this authorities plan to let gangs bloodbath folks within the decrease Artibonite space at their pleasure?” requested Miralène Isnadin, a local of Jean-Denis who lives in South Florida.
“I really feel very devastated,” she informed The Haitian Occasions. “9 of our kin have been killed in a single evening, together with 5 in a single house and 4 in one other. We have now but to listen to from many others who are usually not accounted for. We don’t know if they’re alive, hiding from the assaillants.”
The bloodbath underscores the speedy growth of gang violence past Port-au-Prince into areas like Artibonite and the Centre division — areas as soon as thought of comparatively steady however now more and more below every day threats.
Armed teams have tightened their management over key roads and agricultural zones, disrupting meals provide routes and displacing communities. In lots of areas, the state’s presence stays minimal or absent.
Gran Grif has been linked to repeated assaults in Artibonite. In October 2024, the group carried out a bloodbath in close by Pont-Sondé that killed greater than 100 folks and compelled 1000’s to flee.
Extra broadly, Haiti has seen a pointy escalation in violence over the previous 12 months. In keeping with latest United Nations knowledge, greater than 5,500 folks have been killed between March 2025 and January 2026 in clashes involving gangs, safety forces and vigilante teams.
Regardless of the deployment of a Kenya-led Multinational Safety Assist mission (MSS) in June 2024 and ongoing police operations, residents say safety has not improved in lots of areas. Armed teams proceed to hold out coordinated assaults with little resistance, reinforcing a local weather of worry and impunity.
Inadequate or no response has left communities in limbo.
In Jean-Denis, 1000’s of survivors at the moment are displaced, with many uncertain the place to go as violence persists.
“For now, residents don’t know the place to show until the authorities do one thing urgently,” Isnadin stated.
The most recent assault provides to rising issues that, with out a sustained and efficient safety response, mass killings like this might develop into much more frequent throughout Haitian provinces.