Overview:

At least 12 people were killed, 20 injured and hundreds of families displaced after their homes were torched in a Nov. 29 gang attack in Pont-Sondé, Artibonite. The assault echoes the 2024 massacre in the same area near Saint-Marc and highlights the transition government’s continued failure to stop criminal groups from terrorizing people across Haiti.

PORT-AU-PRINCE —  Another deadly massacre in Pont-Sondé, a community near Saint-Marc in the lower Artibonite department, has again underscored the transition government’s inability to protect Haitians from increasingly brazen armed groups, as gang violence continues spreading nationwide with little to no state resistance.

Residents of the 5th communal section of Saint-Marc were attacked late Nov. 29 by gunmen identified as members of the Gran Grif gang. At least 12 people were killed — including six employees of the Artibonite Valley Development Organization — about 20 others were injured, and dozens of homes were set ablaze, according to community leaders. More than 500 residents fled overnight to the Saint-Marc police station seeking assistance.

The assault resembles the Oct. 3, 2024, massacre in the same area, during which Gran Grif gunmen armed with automatic rifles slaughtered at least 70 people and torched 45 homes, according to the UN human rights office. Saturday’s attack adds to a long list of mass killings across the Artibonite, Port-au-Prince, and Centre regions, where groups affiliated with the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, such as Gran Grif, Kokorat San Ras, Kraze Baryè, 400 Mawozo, among others,  have overrun entire communities while the state remains largely absent.

‘They went house to house’: authorities silent as killings persist nationwide

Witnesses said Gran Grif gunmen swept through several neighborhoods, firing into homes and executing residents attempting to flee. Videos shared by locals show families running under gunfire and gang members celebrating afterward.

“Well-known local entrepreneurs were also executed by Gran Grif. Elderly people and infants remained locked inside their homes,” said René Charles, president of the Visionary Planters’ Union of the Artibonite Valley. He said the death toll is likely to rise.

By early Sunday, families were sleeping in the open at Saint-Marc’s Philippe Guerrier square, while charred walls and collapsed roofs smoldered in Pont-Sondé.

Neither the Haitian National Police (PNH), the Presidential Transition Council (CPT), nor the government of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé had released any information about the attack as of Monday morning. That silence mirrors official inaction after previous atrocities in Artibonite, Port-au-Prince neighborhoods and rural communities in the Centre Plateau, notably Mirebalais and Saut-d’Eau, where gang-led massacres have become frequent.

The lone public reaction came from CPT member Fritz Alphonse Jean, who spoke “as a citizen,” calling for security and criticizing the government as “unable to address the population’s problems for over a year.”

“Blood continues to flow, and lives and property continue to be lost,” Jean wrote on X, describing residents of Pont-Sondé and nearby Bercy as “running under gunfire” through the night.

Still, Jean, who is under U.S. sanctions for alleged gang ties — accusations he denies — did not outline any concrete actions from the CPT.

Police say they responded, but residents say help came too late

Saint-Marc district commissioner Nestor Ereste told Le Nouvelliste that police were not idle and deployed armored vehicles and specialized units. But he acknowledged that the assailants maintained control throughout the night.

“With three armored vehicles and officers from specialized units, we are striving to neutralize the outlaws,” Ereste said. “Reinforcements were sent to Pont-Sondé this morning.”

Several residents, however, said warnings about unusual gang movements went unheeded and that law enforcement arrived after the attackers had already withdrawn.

A region under siege as police chief praised his first 100 days in command

The massacre occurred less than 24 hours after Haiti’s new police chief, Vladimir Paraison, held a press conference praising his first 100 days in office. Paraison cited “gains” such as holding a Council of Ministers meeting at the National Palace and limited progress in parts of Carrefour, Lalue and Kenscoff.

But the PNH has not reclaimed a single gang-held territory, and no major Viv Ansanm leader has been arrested or neutralized. In Artibonite — where Gran Grif and Kokorat San Ras dominate — police presence has not prevented gangs from overrunning communities, looting farms and displacing thousands.

Paraison said the situation in Désarmes, L’Estère and Pont-Sondé had “stabilized.” The next day, Gran Grif razed homes and killed residents across Pont-Sondé’s vulnerable communities.

The attack underscores the widening gap between official claims of progress and the reality on the ground, where criminal groups continue to operate with near-total impunity.

Gran Grif’s rampage in Pont-Sondé joins a string of large-scale attacks during 2024–25 across:

• Lower Artibonite, including massacres in Verrettes, Liancourt and Petite Rivière.
• Port-au-Prince, in Solino, Delmas 18, Carrefour-Feuilles, Bel-Air and others.
• Centre Plateau, where gangs expanding from Croix-des-Bouquets and Thomazeau have targeted rural towns.

Across these regions, residents have repeatedly reported delayed or absent police response — even as limited United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) deployments continue.

For survivors in Pont-Sondé, the Nov. 29 massacre is not just another tragedy but further proof that the transition government remains unable — or unwilling — to halt Haiti’s accelerating descent into gang rule.

While authorities in Port-au-Prince remained silent and residents contradicted local police, several media outlets reported that the Gran Grif bandits returned to Pont-Sondé throughout Monday, Dec. 1, ransacking homes and terrorizing families. In neighboring L’Estère, the Kokorat San Ras gang also swept in, extending the wave of fear across the lower Artibonite and underscoring how easily armed groups continue to move and strike without resistance.

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