More than 180 killed in Haiti massacre after gang leader accuses elderly of Voodoo witchcraft

Haiti's government says the country's gangs have crossed a "red line" after allegedly killing over 180 people over the weekend, after a gang leader reportedly blamed Voodoo adherents for his child's grave illness.

A statement by the Haiti Prime Minister's office accused gang leader Micanor "Mikanò" Altès and associates of carrying out the massacre on December 6 and 7, in impoverished Cité Soleil, in Haiti's capital city Port-au-Prince.

Micanor ordered the killing of elderly residents in the Wharf Jérémie area over suspicions that witchcraft had made his child sick, according to Haiti's National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH).

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"The massacre was triggered by the severe illness of his child. Micanor sought advice from a voodoo priest ('bókò') who accused elderly people in the area of practicing witchcraft and harming the child," RNDDH said in a report seen by CNN.

Voodoo is widely practiced in parts of Haitian society.

"On Friday, December 6, Micanor shot and killed at least 60 elderly individuals. On Saturday, December 7, he and his group killed at least 50 more using machetes and knives. Despite his actions, his ill child passed away," it said.

Citing sources in the area, Haiti's Committee for Peace and Development (CPD) also said the attack targeted "all elderly people and Voodoo practitioners who, in (Micanor's) imagination, would be capable of casting a bad spell on his son," and left the bodies of victims mutilated in the streets.

At least 184 people were killed in the massacre, including an estimated 127 elderly men and women, the United Nations said.

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"These latest killings bring the death toll just this year in Haiti to a staggering 5000 people," Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said at a press conference.

Since the massacre, Wharf Jérémie remains "under an informal siege" with elderly residents and Voodoo adherents still targeted by the broader Haitian gang alliance Viv Ansamn, according to RNDDH.

'A red line has been crossed'

Haiti's transitional government has promised to find and bring the perpetrators to justice.

"A red line has been crossed, and the State will mobilise all its forces to track down and annihilate these criminals," a statement from the prime minister's office said.

For the past year, gangs under the Viv Ansamn banner have been ravaging Port-au-Prince, attacking state institutions including prisons, police stations and the city's international airport, and forcing hundreds of thousands of Haitian civilians to flee their homes.

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The escalating gang-driven chaos prompted the international community to send a multinational policing force to the Caribbean nation over the summer, but the so-called MSS has so far failed to curb Port-au-Prince's extreme violence.

Yesterday local time, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged member states to provide more support to the multinational mission, and called for an investigation into the massacre.

Haiti's National Police over the weekend had insisted that joint operations with the US-backed MSS were running smoothly, denying what it described as online rumors that the two forces were "not working in perfect harmony".