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Dozens of people were killed in a fishing village north of Haiti’s capital in the latest massacre carried out by powerful gangs in the troubled Caribbean country, an official said Friday.
At least 42 people were killed in Labodrie, including a 4-year-old child and his family, said Joseph Louis Baptiste, a local government official.
He told Radio Caraïbes that the killings began over the weekend and are ongoing.
“This tragedy highlights the urgent need for effective state intervention to end impunity and restore security in the region,” he said.
Baptiste said gangs set Labodrie on fire and are now trying to attack the nearby town of Arcahaie, with police and a local vigilante group trying to hold them back.
Baptiste said the massacre apparently was provoked by the killing of a local gang leader in Cabaret who goes by the name of Vladimir. He was a member of a powerful gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm that has plundered several communities in Port-au-Prince and beyond and was recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S.
Baptiste called on police to help protect people in Labodrie and Arcahaie.
Lionel Lazarre, a deputy spokesman for Haiti’s National Police, did not immediately return a message for comment.
The department is understaffed and underfunded and is struggling to quell gang violence despite help from a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police.
Gangs previously attacked Arcahaie in October last year, wounding multiple people and setting fire to homes.
Gang violence used to be concentrated in Port-au-Prince but in recent years has spread to once peaceful communities outside of the capital.
Earlier this month, the U.S. and Panama said they supported transforming the current multinational force into a 5,550-member force with the power to detain and arrest suspected gang members.
Meanwhile, the security firm of former U.S. Navy Seal Erik Prince is expected to deploy nearly 200 personnel from various countries to Haiti as part of a one-year deal to quell gang violence there.
