More than 50 people were brutally killed in a series of gang attacks north of Port-au-Prince last week, the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) reported Monday, underscoring the deepening crisis in Haiti.
The killings, which occurred on September 11 and 12, were carried out by members of the “Viv Ansanm” gang coalition, which has tightened its grip on the town of Cabaret since March 2024. According to RNDDH, the gang unleashed “an extremely cruel massacre against the civilian population” in the nearby town of Laboderie, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the capital.
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“As of September 14, several victims had still not been found, while corpses still lay in the bushes, devoured by dogs,” RNDDH said in its report. Survivors described scenes of horror as dozens of homes were set ablaze and terrified residents fled, some escaping to neighboring communities while others took to the sea in small boats to evade the attackers.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has been consumed by spiraling violence, with gangs controlling much of Port-au-Prince and large parts of the countryside. The crisis worsened in early 2024 when a coalition of armed groups launched coordinated assaults that forced Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign, leaving a transitional presidential council to lead the fragile nation.
Even the deployment of a Kenyan-led multinational security force to back Haiti’s outnumbered and outgunned police has so far failed to stem the violence. The United Nations estimates that gangs now control more than 90 percent of the capital.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the massacre in Cabaret on Sunday, warning that “state authority is crumbling” and that violence is spreading well beyond the capital. He urged member states to “expedite efforts towards strengthening the Multinational Security Support mission with logistics, personnel, and funding.”
The scale of killings reflects the deepening humanitarian disaster. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that at least 3,141 people were killed in the first half of 2025 alone, highlighting how ordinary Haitians are paying the price for the collapse of state security.
For those who survived the latest massacre, flight was the only option. “A few survivors were able to flee to neighboring areas, while others took to the sea in boats to try to escape the attackers,” RNDDH noted, painting a grim picture of a nation where violence and fear have become daily realities.
