Official says gangs killed dozens in small fishing village in Haiti’s latest massacre

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.