Haitian judge revives memories of La Saline massacre with criminal charges

Editor’s Notes: The names used for the victims in this report are pseudonyms to comply with their request for anonymity due to safety concerns.

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Nearly six years after the vicious attack on Port-au-Prince’s La Saline community, Judge Jean Wilner Morin has finally charged over 30 individuals, including notorious gang leaders Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier and Christ-Roi “Krisla” Chéry, as well as former government officials Fednel Monchéry and Joseph Pierre-Richard Duplan, for their alleged involvement in the horrific incident. The indictment order, made public on July 19, revives the painful memories of the victims and renews their hope for justice and reparations.

Milène, 54, saw the gates of hell on the afternoon of November 13, 2018. That day, she narrowly escaped death from the massacre perpetrated by armed individuals dressed in police uniforms. The deadly attack, which is deemed a state-sanctioned massacre by local and international human rights organizations, left scores of women without husbands, children without fathers, and families inconsolable in the La Saline neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, part of the Cité Soleil slum.

Despite being perpetrated almost six years ago, this terrifying incident left lifelong scars on victims like Milène, who still feels the harmful consequences today.

“Sometimes, I talk to myself and don’t even realize it,” Milène told The Haitian Times, her voice laced with sadness. “I lost one of my children in the crossfire, and a grandson burned in hot oil while fleeing the area. I also lost my children’s father. I suffered enormously,” she said.

Milène, a food vendor in La Saline and a mother of four, was at home that day because she had decided not to open her business due to the gang violence outbreaks. She was waiting to share a meal and a pleasant moment with her son, who left the house on a motorcycle, when gunfire rang out throughout the area. A neighbor returning from work then informed her that her son had been killed.

La Saline was quickly invaded by gangs who were struggling for territory control between Nov. 2-13. They shot residents indiscriminately, decapitated people in front of their loved ones, raped women and young girls, and burned houses, forcing thousands of families to flee the area for their lives.

According to a joint Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic and Observatoire Haïtien des Crimes contre l’Humanité’s report published in April 2021, the massacre led to at least 71 people being killed, 11 women being victims of collective rape and 150 homes being looted or destroyed. 

“Over the course of 14 hours, the assailants systematically extracted victims, including children, from their homes and executed them at gunpoint and with machetes,” the report’s authors wrote. “Bodies were burned, dismembered, and disposed of in trash piles.”

Like many other victims and residents who fled their homes, Milène found refuge under a bed nearby. The next day, she left the area, disguising herself with a big hat to go unnoticed.

“The gangs killed children, babies, adults, young and old, and pregnant women mercilessly,” Milène said, recounting what she witnessed that day. “It was the first time in my life I saw animals eating people’s organs. They looted everything and burned my house. Today, I live in extreme poverty; I cannot pay my rent, and I am forced to sleep on the street with my children,” she added.

Haitian justice takes the first significant step after six years

The justice system in Haiti is fraught with numerous challenges and inefficiencies, often leading to a lack of proper legal recourse for victims of crimes. Corruption is pervasive, with many law enforcement officials and judicial personnel susceptible to bribery and political influence, which undermines the rule of law. The judicial process is notoriously slow and bureaucratic, resulting in prolonged pre-trial detentions and delayed verdicts. 

Moreover, the system is under-resourced, lacking sufficient infrastructure, trained legal professionals, and adequate funding to function effectively. This has created a culture of impunity where criminals, including those involved in serious offenses, frequently evade justice. Consequently, many citizens have little faith in the judicial system’s ability to deliver fair and timely justice, exacerbating societal inequities and instability.

Joseph Pierre-Richard Duplan (left) and Fednel Monchéry (right) allegedly backed the armed gangs that killed at least 71 people in La Saline, Haiti, in November 2018. Photo: Ministry of Communication & Facebook

Morin, the second judge to handle the case after Prosecutor Chavannes Étienne, has issued a ruling indicting gang leaders and members, as well as two top officials from the late President Jovenel Moïse’s administration: the former West Department delegate and the director of the Ministry of Interior and Territorial Collectivities.

They are charged with illegal possession of firearms, murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, arson, kidnapping, and sequestration, as well as criminal association under the Haitian Penal Code. 

But will these alleged criminals effectively be brought to court for a fair trial where justice is served? It’s anyone’s guess. However, this is a question the transition government and beyond, and the country’s justice administrators, supported by the international community, will have to answer for the victims and those advocating for an end to the traditional system of impunity.

According to the indictment document, Morin has ordered the arrest of all accused who are not already in detention. All defendants must face criminal court for trials without a jury.

Several organizations, including human rights groups and the Committee for Justice and Reparations for the victims of La Saline, have praised the judicial decision. Despite the time it took to process the investigation and provide a response, some victims, though not all, believe this first step is significant for the case’s progress.

“The procedure is ongoing and has reached a point that gives us some hope,” a representative of the committee for the victims said, requesting anonymity due to fear of persecution. “We are pleased with the decision made by Judge Morin.” The massacre narrowly spared his life as he took refuge inside a shower unit detached from his house, which was destroyed by the gangs.

“From 2018 to 2024, that’s six long years,” La Saline massacre victim said. “But we accept this first step and believe it is a step in the right direction.” 

Signs of an imminent massacre were visible beforehand, the judge noted

According to victim testimonies and the indictment document, the massacre occurred against a backdrop of sociopolitical turbulence and a series of anti-government protests aimed at denouncing corruption and calling for the late President Moïse’s resignation. 

La Saline, known for its exceptional ability to mobilize or thwart street demonstrations, is a long-standing stronghold of Fanmi Lavalas, the political party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and one of the key opposition parties to Moïse’s Tèt Kale political party, also known as PHTK.

Amid political struggles, rival gangs were also vying for control of La Saline’s Croix-des-Bossales public market, where they could extort businesses and charge fees for allocating space.

As the anti-government movement intensified, opposition leaders multiplied meetings in La Saline to rally more support while residents kept government authorities away. On October 17, 2018, protesters even blocked the late President Moïse from entering La Saline to lay a ceremonial wreath at Dessalines’ monument in Pont Rouge, leading to clashes with the police and the police firing guns into the crowd.

Earlier, in 2017, former First Lady Martine Moïse, accompanied by two government ministers and other state officials, reportedly met with gang leaders and community leaders in La Saline and offered to invest in community projects to reduce anti-government activities and violence in the area. The proposal was rejected as “bold and inappropriate” by the opposition actors.

With the protest movement in full swing, activists planned another round of nationwide demonstrations for November 18, 2018. Two weeks before the scheduled protests, Duplan, then President Moïse’s delegate for the West Department, and Monchéry, then director general of the Ministry of the Interior, reportedly met with Chérizier in Delmas 6 to plan an attack against the residents of La Saline.

Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier, leader of the G9 Family and Allies gangs. Jimmy Chérizier’s Facebook Images

At the time, Chérizier was still a police officer and the head of the Delmas 6 gang. He had a reputation for violence and was widely known as a key perpetrator of an earlier attack orchestrated in 2017 in the Port-au-Prince Grand Ravine neighborhood, in which nine civilians were killed. According to witnesses, Duplan and Monchéry supplied Chérizier and his gang with weapons, police uniforms, and government vehicles to use in the attack.

All these events indicated the worsening situation in La Saline. In his final indictment dated May 31, the Port-au-Prince prosecutor noted that the judicial police had informed the investigators of a series of gang attacks brazenly carried out in La Saline and nearby communities like Saint-Joseph, Rue Saint-Martin, and Bois d’Hommes under the complicit eye of the then-government.

The details are well-documented about the horrific incident, deemed a massacre by national and international human rights organizations.

Witness testimonies and numerous media reports have corroborated most information presented by several organizations, notably the Haitian National Network for Human Rights (RNDDH), Fondasyon Je Klere (FJKL), Open Eyes Foundation in English, and the California-based National Lawyers Guild and Haitian Action Committee.

Despite the judge’s order, concerns over the ability of the Haitian justice system to hold the perpetrators accountable and provide justice and reparations for the victims and their families remain.

To date, most of the accused perpetrators, including gang leaders and former government officials, are still free and continue to conduct criminal activities with complete impunity, emboldening them and leaving civilians vulnerable to more violence and abuses. Chérizier and other gang leaders, who have been indicted as principal actors in the attack, remain in control of most of Port-au-Prince. Duplan and Monchéry, the two former high-ranking government officials also indicted, are on the run. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

Moreover, the Haitian government has a history of failing to reckon with the criminal responsibility of officials and police officers within its ranks. Victims worry that the escalating crisis, which has further weakened the country’s judicial system, will continue to allow the culture of impunity to grow despite human rights organizations being at the forefront of demands for action.

The living conditions of the victims have been exacerbated since the massacre

The November 2018 massacre upended everything in the lives of the victims in La Saline, who once led a more or less peaceful life despite limited means to meet their daily needs. For one, Patrick now feels “worthless” because he can no longer work to care for his family properly due to disability sustained from an injury.

“I can’t do anything, I’m worthless,” Patrick told The Haitian Times. “I live like an unemployed person, like someone who hasn’t learned a trade.”

 A mechanic by trade, Patrick, 58, used to fix car electrical problems primarily. He has lived in La Saline since 1982 and worked in Portail St. Joseph, a nearby area that used to be filled with commercial activities before the gang takeover. “Life wasn’t great, but my situation was better than before these areas fell into the hands of gangs,” he said.

While trying to flee, Patrick was shot in the right eye on the day of the massacre. He was lucky to find refuge at Carrefour de l’Aviation, which was not too far away. The next day, he went to the State University of Haiti Hospital (HUEH), where doctors were forced to remove his damaged eye. Patrick, a father of two daughters, is now separated from his children. He is trying to return to live in La Saline despite the deteriorating security situation.