Survivors of massacre in small Haitian town where 70 died point finger at government

[Judi Lynn]

By PIERRE-RICHARD LUXAMA and DÁNICA COTO
Updated 2:23 AM CDT, October 9, 2024

PONT-SONDÉ, Haiti (AP) — Angry whispers have broken the heavy silence that fell over Pont-Sondé just days after a vicious gang attack left more than 70 dead, marking one of Haiti’s biggest massacres in recent history.

The whispering came from a handful of people that remained in the small town in central Haiti after Thursday’s assault. They huddled by the roadside, stood under leafy trees or milled around the lone cemetery.

All of them blamed the government for the assault by the Gran Grif gang, created after a former legislator armed young men nearly a decade ago to secure his election and control of the area.

“I have to thank the government, because the gangs are killing people and kids cannot go to school,” said Lunoir Jean Chavanne, the town’s morgue driver. He lost three relatives, including a 14-year-old boy and a beloved uncle who was a priest of the Vodou religion.

Like others, Chavanne questioned why authorities didn’t do anything to stop the attack by Gran Grif, considered one of Haiti’s cruelest gangs. “They’ve been announcing that they were coming a number of times on social media,” he said.

More:
https://apnews.com/article/haiti-massacre-gang-pont-sonde-saint-marc-f11545a13d2f73fd54c4a53f489da004

[sabbat hunter]

1. Is there

even a functioning government right now in Haiti?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Have never seen it explained since the murder of President Moises, a rough character, himself. . .

It may have been like every man for himself, with the only authority figure seeming to get into the news a lot here being the former police chief, and current leader of gangsters, the guy currently known as "Bar-b-que." (One hesitates to wonder what is meant by that nickname given to him!)

It seems the former death squad leaders, their organization going all the way back to Papa Doc Duvalier, or his son, who also were trained by the US and given supplies by them from time to time, as well as haven at various times, are always lurking in the wings. Their group originally was known as the TonTon Macoutes, the super-vicious secret police who served Papa Doc.

(I read in Google their name comes from a child's fictitious characger known as "Uncle Gunnysack" who would come at night and steal children, shoving them into his Gunnysack and they would never be seen again)