Haiti’s ‘vodou’ murders: Why did a gang kill nearly 200 people?

Rights groups say the killings specifically targeted elderly people and Vodou practitioners.

Nearly 200 people have been killed in Haiti over claims of “witchcraft”. The killing spree in the capital’s coastal Cite Soleil over the weekend is believed to have been ordered by a gang leader who alleged that the victims had used witchcraft against his child.

Here is more about the latest bout of gang violence in the Caribbean nation:

At least 184 people were killed on December 6 and 7 in Cite Soleil, an impoverished, sprawling slum by the sea which has long been ravaged by gang violence in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The killings happened in the Wharf Jeremie neighbourhood.

The spokesperson for the secretary-general of the United Nations reported on Monday that 127 of the victims were elderly. The UN added that gang members had burned the bodies and thrown them into the sea.

It has been reported that many Haitians have fled their homes in Port-au-Prince following the gang violence over the weekend.