At least 110 people were murdered over the weekend in the slum district of Cité Soleil, the Haitian capital, when a gang leader targeted citizens over sixty years old because he suspected they had sickened his child with “witchcraft”, the National Network for the Defence of Human Rights (RNDDH) announced yesterday (Sunday).

Monel “Micano” Felix and the Viv Ansanm gang alliance, of which he is a member, are allegedly responsible for the massacre, according to the NGO.

RNDDH explained that after his child fell ill, Felix sought advice from a voodoo priest who accused elders of causing the illness with black magic, goading the gang leader into ordering the massacre.

The non-governmental organisation said at least 60 were killed on Friday and another 50 on Saturday with knives and machetes, adding that the victims were all aged 60 and over.

Site Soleil, a densely populated slum near the port of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, is one of the poorest and most violent areas in all of Haiti.

“Mikano”, leader of the Wharf Jeremie gang, has been banned from entering the neighbouring Dominican Republic since 2022.