PONT-SONDÉ — Gunmen stormed this riverside town in Haiti’s Artibonite region early Thursday, killing dozens of residents in a calculated rampage that has left the government scrambling and survivors in shock.
The attack, attributed to the Gran Grif gang, began before dawn. Witnesses described masked men moving house to house, firing indiscriminately and setting fire to vehicles and homes. By midday, morgues in the nearby city of Saint-Marc were overwhelmed. Local health officials confirmed they could not keep pace with the influx of victims, many of whom sustained gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
“The scale of this massacre is unprecedented for this region,” said a local community leader who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. “They didn’t just kill people; they burned everything we had to make sure no one could return.”
The Artibonite region has long served as a breadbasket for Haiti, but the Gran Grif gang has systematically dismantled the local economy over the last two years. By seizing farmland and imposing extortion taxes on irrigation infrastructure, the group has effectively held the region’s food supply hostage. Thursday’s assault marks a violent escalation in their attempts to consolidate total control over the territory.
Prime Minister Garry Conille’s office condemned the violence as a “heinous crime” against defenseless civilians. Yet, for those on the ground, the government’s rhetoric offers little solace. Despite the deployment of a Kenyan-led international security force earlier this year, gangs continue to operate with near-total impunity in areas outside of Port-au-Prince.
The attack highlights a grim reality: the security crisis is no longer confined to the capital. As gangs expand their reach into rural provinces, the state’s ability to protect its citizens is thinning.
The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti reported that over 3,600 people have been killed in gang-related violence this year alone. As the death toll from Pont-Sondé continues to rise, the massacre serves as a brutal reminder that the international intervention has yet to break the gangs’ stranglehold on the nation.
For the families now fleeing Pont-Sondé, the promise of security remains a distant prospect. They aren’t waiting for the next government announcement; they are simply trying to survive the night.
