Almost 200 massacred in Haiti as Vodou practitioners reportedly targeted Killings overseen by ‘powerful gang leader’ convinced his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion Agence France-Presse in Geneva Mon 9 Dec 2024 13.08 GMT About 200 people were killed in violence in Haiti’s capital over the weekend, many in a massacre in which a gang boss reportedly targeted Vodou practitioners. The killings of at least 110 people were overseen by a “powerful gang leader” convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, according to the civil organisation the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD). “He decided to cruelly punish all elderly people and Vodou practitioners who, in his imagination, would be capable of sending a bad spell on his son,” a statement from the Haiti-based group said. “The gang’s soldiers were responsible for identifying victims in their homes to take them to the chief’s stronghold to be executed.” The UN rights commissioner, Volker Türk, said at least 184 people had died over the weekend. “These latest killings bring the death toll just this year in Haiti to a staggering 5,000 people,” he told reporters in Geneva. Both the CPD and UN said that the massacre took place in the capital’s western coastal neighbourhood of Cité Soleil. Follow link for full story...