On Saturday, one of Haiti’s most powerful gangs opened fire on a large group of parishioners from a local as they marched through a community in an attempt to rid the area of the gang members.
The group from Canaan was armed with machetes and led by their pastor, but they were no match for gang members armed with assault rifles. It is not clear how many were killed and/or injured.
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Canaan is now controlled by the “5 Seconds” gang. It is a suburb of Croix-des-Bouquets and Thomazeau in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, by 2016 an estimated population of 200,000 is settling in the about 50 square kilometers large territory that was expropriated in reaction to the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since then, earthquake victims that were fleeing the chaos in the adjacent Port-au-Prince neighborhoods, migrants from rural zones of Haiti and people profiting from the uncontrolled situation invested according to ONU-Habitat data more than 10 million US Dollar in the development of the “new city”.
Gangs have grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, and they are estimated to control up to 80 per cent of Port-au-Prince.
Haiti’s Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights Director, Gédéon Jean, blames the pastor for being irresponsible and plans to ask the Ministry of Justice to investigate.
The attack was filmed caught on film in real time by AP journalists.
