Haiti human rights group demands authorities take action after gang kills church members

A Port-au-Prince human rights group is calling on Haitian authorities to take action against “the perpetrators and accomplices” of a weekend massacre that left several church followers dead at the hands of a heavily armed gang on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital.

On Saturday, several parishioners of a local Haitian pastor, Marcorel “Marco” Zidor of the Evangelical Pool of Bethesda Church, were shot and killed when men in the Canaan community at the northern edge of Port-au-Prince opened fired on them as they marched against gang violence.

Fondasyon Je Klere/Eyes Wide Open Foundation said that prior to the march, which some people followed live on social media, Zidor gave “a pastoral speech advocating violence” as he called on his flock “to arm themselves in order to bring down armed gangs.”

“Bringing citizens to arm themselves against each other, provoking violence in pastoral speeches, are criminal acts provided for and punished by the Haitian penal code,” the human rights group, headed by Marie Yolène Gilles, said in a statement. “Three to 15 years in prison is the penalty provided by the law in this matter. It’s time to enforce the law. Those who by their speech provoked this massacre and the perpetrators of this massacre must answer for their actions.”

Pierre Esperance of the National Human Rights Defense Network said prosecutors in the Croix-des-Bouquets district on Sunday summoned Zidor.

“I hope it just doesn’t stand there,” said Esperance, who applauds prosecutors’ intervention. “There needs to be an investigation and the authorities need to take their responsibility.”

The march, he said, was no secret and police were well aware of Zidor’s intentions to have his church marchers go after the gang with their bare hands.

“The police was supposed to take every effort to stop the people from going to Canaan. If they had, the massacre would not have happened,” he said. “Again, this is another example of the weakness of the leadership of the high command of the Haiti National Police.”

The police have not made any official comment about the tragedy, and its unclear if they have even been able to access the settlement to retrieve the bodies. The killings have shaken Haitians of all faith and raised questions about the roles of the police, state and pastor in failing to prevent the deaths, and about ongoing efforts by Haitians to take the law into their own hands. With violence by armed groups escalating in Haiti, vigilante killings by so-called “self-defense” groups have been on the rise as individuals go after and publicly lynch suspected gang members.

A source in the police high command told the Miami Herald that contrary to reports police officers did not accompany churchgoers as they marched to Canaan, known to be the stronghold of a dangerous gang led by a warlord named “Jeff.” The marchers, who numbered in the hundreds, held only rocks, sticks and machetes.

Videos on social media show gang members, dressed in shorts, firing automatic weapons at marchers running for cover behind wrecked cars. Also filmed: the bloodied corpses of dead churchgoers, wearing yellow and white shirts with the insignia “Pastor Marco,” sprawled on the ground.

In one video, two victims dressed in yellow t-shirts were prone on the gravel, while in another five bodies wearing white shirts, including that of a young girl, were covered in blood.

Exactly how many people were killed, injured or held captive by the gang is unclear. Also unknown is the fate of Zidor.

Created after the devastating Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake, Canaan was once a quiet community where aid groups provided water, schooling and other assistance to the population. Today it is a symbol of the failure of Haiti’s post-quake reconstruction efforts as “Jeff” and his armed men maintain a tight grip.

The gang has been accused of mounting attacks against the nearby women’s prison in Cabaret, and invading the otherwise peaceful farming community.

In a recording circulated Sunday, in which he identifies himself, Jeff refused to take blame for the tragedy. He instead accused Zidor of using his flock to curry political favor with a prospective candidate in the area by having his church members march on the gang. He also accused police of not impeding the violence, and standing by “with their arms crossed.”

“I wonder if the country understands what Pastor Marco did?” said Jeff, asking who among them is the real criminal after what happened.

“Pastor Marco crossed almost two communities,” he said, adding that the pastor lives in Torcel, a community east of Canaan, and had his followers pass another armed gang in the Croix-des-Missions community to come “destabilize a group of armed men in Canaan.”

As the group approached Canaan, the gang leader gave orders for his men to shoot in the air, he said. But they were fired upon, he said, by a group of armed men accompanying the churchgoers.

“They started a confrontation with us,” Jeff said. “I did all I could to prevent a lot of people from dying.”

He acknowledged that he currently has some worshipers in his custody, and said he plans to release them on Monday.

“Pastor Marco has never had his faithful go before the prime minister’s office to demonstrate against hunger, the misery and suffering of the population,” the gang leader said. “He’s never taken a group of people in front of the palace, given what is happening to the population. But he can take a group of people to leave his home in Torcel, cross Croix-des-Missions and come to Canaan to dislodge an armed group.”

While police have remained mum on Saturday’s gang killings, they did release a statement about their efforts that day to go after another gang, which has been terrorizing residents in Port-au-Prince’s Carrefour Feuilles neighborhood.

The police communications office said “a lot” of armed men were killed Saturday in a battle. An ongoing attack, launched against the residents by the Grand Ravine gang and its allies, has forced more than 5,000 people to seek refuge in public plazas, schoolyards and a local gymnasium, the United Nations and local human rights groups said.