In late April and May, a fight between gangs of 400 Mawozo and Chen Mechan killed 191 and displaced 16,000 people. Homes were burned down with Haitians in them, and women and girls reported being raped repeatedly, according to Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network.
The violence shows little sign of abating. Currently in a remote district of Port-au-Prince, thousands of people are trapped without drinking water, food or medical care in what has been described as a massacre. Dozens of people have been killed and injured, and at least 2,000 have been displaced.
“We have encountered corpses decomposing or being incinerated. It is not possible to estimate how many people have died,” said Mumuza Muhindo, head of operations at the NGO Doctors Without Borders.
‘Shots everywhere’
Throughout Port-au-Prince, home to an estimated 200 gangs, bullet holes mark residents’ homes and burning tires mark the territory.
The violence prevents thousands of Haitian children from going to school, the UN warned. Since April 24, 500,000 children have been denied access to education in the city, as about 1,700 schools have been closed.
“Parents are afraid to send their kids to school, they’re afraid bullets will get through the classrooms,” Bauer says.