At least 70 civilians were killed in a massacre carried out by the Gran Grif gang in the rural settlement of Jean-Denis, Haiti, on 29 March 2025, according to a reconstruction by the Guardian using dozens of verified videos, photographs, witness testimony and satellite imagery. The attack, which began at 2am, saw dozens of armed men in civilian clothes and bandanas swarm the village, shooting indiscriminately and setting homes on fire.
Eyewitness Accounts of the Attack
Merçide Daniel, a 45-year-old mother of four, described the assault: “Pow, pow, pow – quick gunfire coming towards us from all directions. It was the Gran Grif gang coming to take over our neighbourhood and turn it into a base.” She fled to the bushes and watched as homes were set ablaze. Five members of her family were killed: two uncles, an aunt and two cousins, three shot while trying to escape and two burned alive in their houses. “I had never seen anything like this before. It was a massacre,” she said.
Victims ranged from an eight-year-old girl, Berlancia Dor, who was shot in the chest while fleeing, to an 85-year-old man, Estimable Fils-Aimé, who was burned alive in his home. Marie Elvire Louis, 80, was shot in the neck and chest outside her front door. Kenold François, a father of four, was shot multiple times in the abdomen in his yard. Thélomène Thelot, 62, was hit by three bullets in her garden and then lynched.
Gang Expansion Beyond the Capital
The massacre highlights the expansion of gang violence from Port-au-Prince into Haiti’s rural heartland. According to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project (ACLED), violent incidents in the Artibonite region, where Jean-Denis is located, rose from 39 in 2021 to 238 in 2025. In the Centre department, incidents increased from seven to 111 over the same period. Nationwide, violent incidents surged from 615 in 2021 to 1,626 in 2025, with nearly 6,000 people killed in gang violence in 2025 and about 1.4 million people displaced, according to the UN.
Nathalye Cotrino, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “Criminal groups are now present in five out of 10 of Haiti’s departments – the violence is definitely spreading.” Pierre Espérance, executive director of Haiti’s National Human Rights Defence Network, added: “They are kidnapping people. They are burning churches and schools, they are burning houses with people inside them. They are massacring, killing, raping.”
Strategic Importance of Rural Areas
Gangs are entrenching themselves along key transit routes in and out of Port-au-Prince and the border with the Dominican Republic to control drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, and migrant movements. William O’Neill, the UN expert on human rights in Haiti, said: “There’s been a big increase of gangs fighting for control of key roads and junctions. Why? Because they’re money-making. It’s hugely remunerative and strategically important.” The UN warned in December 2025 that Haiti was becoming a central hub for international drug trafficking, with cocaine from South America flown into remote airstrips or brought ashore by boat before being moved through the Dominican Republic to Europe and North America.
The Artibonite region, known as Haiti’s breadbasket, has become a particular target due to its agricultural output and critical transport routes. The Sud-Est region is also emerging as a new front, with seven gang-related incidents in early 2026 compared to just one in 2018. In April 2026, at least nine people were killed in what rights groups describe as the region’s first significant gang-related massacre.
Security Forces Struggling to Contain Violence
Haitian national police, supported by foreign personnel and private security contractors, have intensified operations in Port-au-Prince since late 2025, including drone strikes. According to Human Rights Watch data, at least 1,243 people were killed in 141 drone-strike operations between March 2025 and January 2026. However, O’Neill noted that some gang leaders have left the capital to avoid drone strikes, continuing to direct operations from rural areas.
The Multinational Security Support mission (MSS), led by Kenyan police and funded by the US, was deployed in 2024 but failed to stem gang expansion and formally left in April 2026. A new UN-backed Gang Suppression Force is expected to reach its planned strength of 5,500 personnel by autumn 2026, but gangs are exploiting the transition period. O’Neill said: “The gangs are trying to test capacity and willingness. They are acting more aggressively to see what the reaction will be.”
Ulrick Tintin, director of legal affairs at Défenseurs Plus, a Haitian human rights organisation, blamed impunity: “Impunity is why the violence continues to worsen every day. Despite repeated massacres, kidnappings and attacks on civilians, few gang leaders are arrested or prosecuted.” Espérance concluded: “There is no life in Haiti. The people have been abandoned.”
