At least 35 gang members gunned down in Haiti

Six police officers and five members of the Canapé-Vert vigilante group also died

At least 35 members of the gang Viv Ansanm were gunned down by Haitian law enforcement, and 40 others were wounded, last week in a violent clash in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Pacot, the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) reported. In addition, six Haitian National Police (PNH) officers and five fighters of the Canapé-Vert vigilante brigades fell in combat.

Violence in the Central American country last year left 5,626 people dead, 2,213 injured, and 1,494 kidnapped, besides displacing over one million people from their homes, per UN data.

The Canapé-Vert troops were ambushed while trying to remove criminals from the area, resulting in multiple casualties and injuries. The assailants later posted disturbing videos celebrating their actions.

RNDDH Executive Director Pierre Esperance said that the members of the self-defense brigades also participated in the clashes against the gang members, while the PNH published on Facebook that a total of six of their own had fallen, also in Pacot.

Haitian authorities also mentioned that several members of the armed gangs had been arrested. The policemen and brigade members “were shot dead while carrying out their duty to protect the population at the risk of their lives,” the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) said in a statement. “In the face of this tragedy,” the CPT reiterates “its commitment to combat insecurity in all its forms and to do everything possible to restore lasting peace and stability throughout the territory,” it added. “The safety of the people is a sacred mission. It will be carried through to the end,” it further noted. “No gang, no violence will be able to break the determination of the Republic. The response will be implacable.”

Meanwhile, in Kenscoff, the criminal coalition set a police armored vehicle on fire and posted images of that on social media. Kenscoff Mayor Massillon Jean reckoned things could have been worse had the PNH not intervened.