A human rights group in Haiti has published a report that reveals new details about one of the country’s biggest massacres in recent years and unveils security holes as authorities struggle to contain violent gangs in the Caribbean country SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A human rights group in Haiti has published a report that reveals new details about one of the country’s biggest massacres in recent years and unveils security holes as authorities struggle to contain violent gangs. The National Human Rights Defense Network said its report is backed by interviews with judges, police officials, armed civilians, the former head of a police station and more than 100 victims and their relatives. The report provides the most complete account to date of the attacks that gangs recently launched on the once peaceful farming community of Kenscoff near Port-au-Prince, with at least 164 people killed, more than 70 kidnapped and dozens missing.
The human rights group asserted in its report released Wednesday that a “timely strengthening” of security could have prevented or limited the killings. A spokesperson for Haiti’s National Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. The human rights group noted that Kenscoff remained vulnerable after an attack in January 2025 left at least 139 people dead or missing.
Unsurprisingly, security was never truly restored in the town,” the group said. It asserted that soldiers and special police units assigned to strategic locations in Kenscoff after the 2025 attack were recalled “for reasons that remain completely unknown.” Overall, security personnel in the area were reduced by 60%, according to the report. By July of this year, gangs attacked Kenscoff again, pulling back only to organize an even bigger attack in late August.
A week before the massacre began, an armored vehicle was moved given a lack of personnel, “leaving a new opening for armed terrorist bandits and further weakening the city,” the report found. Requests from the former head of the Kenscoff police station for two additional armored trucks were ignored prior to the attack, it added. Days before the massacre, the group said that “armed terrorists” used surveillance drones to track movements and positions of law enforcement.
They deployed scouts to the area, then infiltrated it and began monitoring roads, “identifying individuals likely to pose a threat to them.” The human rights group said government officials told them they did not hear plans about the attack but did notice drones flying over the city hours before it began. Another warning sign: tree trunks were used to block several roads hours before the massacre. One of the first victims was a 21-year-old man ordered to carry stones to block a road before he was shot in the head, the report stated.
Among those killed were nearly two dozen people ages 65 to 90; 36 women; and seven children, including a 4-year-old. Victims included farmers, two pastors and a school principal who was beheaded, according to the report. One man who worked at the Kenscoff police station had his eyes gouged and arms torn off, the report found.
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