More and more police officers are being accused of involvement in cases of extrajudicial executions in Port-au-Prince and provincial towns, according to a dozen testimonies collected by AyiboPost
Haitian National Police officers deployed on the ground must combat gangs and protect the civilian population.
But more and more police officers are being accused of being involved in cases of extrajudicial executions in Port-au-Prince and provincial towns, according to a dozen testimonies collected by AyiboPost.
Most of the victims were killed in gang-controlled areas during operations carried out by the Haitian National Police.
Others are killed because they possess identity documents revealing their affiliation with these neighborhoods, or on the basis of suspicion of affiliation with criminal groups, reveal recent reports from human rights institutions consulted by AyiboPost.
A resident of Fontamara, a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, told AyiboPost that he was directly targeted by police officers on La Fleur du Chêne Street on June 23, 2025.
It was about two o’clock in the afternoon.
The motorcycle taxi driver was going to the city center to pick up a schoolboy who was a subscriber to his school transport service.
As he walked along La Fleur du Chêne Street, which was occupied by gangs, two armored vehicles of the Haitian National Police were patrolling.
One of the armored vehicles heading in his direction opened fire, unleashing a burst of gunfire from its turret, « even though there was no clash, » the victim told AyiboPost.
Seriously injured before losing consciousness, the taxi driver recalls: « A bullet hit me in the face, then I fell off my motorcycle. »
He was rescued shortly after. And from his hospital bed, one can see the scars left by the projectile, which passed through his left cheek before exiting through his right ear.
« He was also hit by several projectiles that mutilated his left thigh, while he was already lying in his own blood, » said his sister, who accompanied him to the hospital.
A passenger frequenting the area confirmed to AyiboPost, on condition of anonymity, that he had noticed the presence of more than three lifeless bodies on the roadway of Avenue Christophe that same afternoon of June 23.
This area, which has become a battleground between law enforcement and bandits from the « Viv Ansanm » gang coalition, remains risky for civilians who venture there.
For the period from April 15 to June 20, 2025, more than 800 alleged cases of human rights violations involving law enforcement during anti-gang operations were reported, indicates a reportof the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), published in June 2025.
These are summary executions and incidents in which measures to protect civilians were not sufficient, the report states.
Other cases reported to human rights organizations concern victims from gang-controlled neighborhoods such as La Saline, Cité-Soleil and Bas-Delmas.
Three human rights organization officials contacted by AyiboPost – who confirmed having been alerted by families whose loved ones disappeared after being arrested by the police – said they were having difficulty documenting these incidents.
Because, for fear of reprisals, families often refuse to file a complaint.
According to Marie Rosy Auguste Ducéna, RNDDH program manager, contacted by AyiboPost, « These arrests occur after their identity documents have been checked, leading to a sorting process based on their area of origin. »
The police consider those who come from areas with gang hotspots to be bandits. Most of the time, « the police tend to execute these people, » the human rights defender continues.
This would be the case of Evenson Calixte, 28 years old, living in the impasse Saint Félix, in the Bel-Air district since his childhood.
The police consider those who come from areas with gang hotspots to be bandits. Most of the time, « the police tend to execute these people. »
-Marie Rosa Auguste Ducéna
The man disappeared on January 3, 2025. According to his widow, Flore Nicolas, he had gone « to collect a money transfer, then to obtain electrolyte for a battery » in Lalue.
Portrait of Evenson Calixte, resident of the Bel-Air district, who disappeared on January 3, 2025 at the bottom of the Lalue district.
The father never returned home.
The next day, Flore Nicolas says she went out to search the Lalue area for him.
According to information gathered by his wife from local residents, Evenson Calixte told the police that he was going to a local supermarket.
« Some people told me they saw police officers call him to question him about his destination, » Nicolas told AyiboPost.
After checking his identity card stating that he was from Bel-Air, two officers allegedly shot him several times in the head, reports Flore Nicolas, citing testimonies received on the scene.
The location where the body of the father of a six-year-old boy was allegedly burned was located not far from Lamarre Street, but no trace of the remains has been found, the woman reported.
After checking his identity card stating that he was from Bel-Air, two officers allegedly shot him several times in the head, reports Flore Nicolas, citing testimonies received on the scene.
In April 2025, an AyiboPost journalist witnessed how a police brigade in the Pacot district stopped an individual, temporarily removing him from their path after noting that his identity card declared him to be from the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets, an area under the control of a gang.
Read also: Photos | Testimonies of gang victims living with untreated injuries and trauma in P-au-P
A police officer who is used to participating in interventions, contacted by AyiboPost, said he found the reality on the ground « complex ».
This parliamentary police officer, who wished to remain anonymous, participated in some operations against gangs in Christ Roi and Nazon. He believes that the civilian casualties are due « to the fact that people live near the bandits. »
These people taken hostage « are bandits indirectly, » because according to him, « they implicitly participate in gang activities. »
According to the officer, these people are sometimes forced to deliver ammunition to bandits, spot police vehicles, or transport gang members on motorcycles.
Attacks targeting people suspected of supporting gang activity are also carried out by self-defense groups, often composed of police and armed civilians.
During a series of interventions carried out by the Haitian National Police and Kenyan forces in Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite in December 2024, witnesses reported to AyiboPost that agents, accompanied by members of the brigade, executed several people accused of affiliation with the « Gran Grif » gang, from the locality of Savien.
This gang is responsible for 80% of civilian deaths since 2022 in the Artibonite department, according to an information sheetfrom the U.S. State Department.
Three residents contacted by AyiboPost claim to have witnessed scenes where members of the self-defense group of the commune of Liancourt, called « Kowalisyon », accompanied by police officers, transported people in armored vehicles to execute them on the banks of the Artibonite River in December 2024.
According to two other local residents interviewed by AyiboPost, to date, it is possible to observe the location of human mass graves, where corpses were burned, as well as remains of clothes and shoes piled up on the river bank.
During the period from October 2024 to June 2025, a reportThe United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) held the Temporary Anti-Gang Unit (UTAG) and the Departmental Law Enforcement Unit (UDMO) responsible for the summary execution of at least seventeen people suspected of belonging to the « Gran Grif » gang in the commune of Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite.
Apprehended on rural roads or in urban centers, these individuals, after having undergone public interrogation or having been handed over to the police by members of the population, were shot dead outside of any judicial procedure.
Between December 9 and 12, 2024, self-defense groups executed 67 people in the Rivartibonitian localities of Bois Laville, Passe–Barque and Ti Rouge, according to the BINUH report of June 2025.
Read also: Some neighborhood brigades are slipping up
Some families are still living with the after-effects of the summary executions of their loved ones. Others have to incur significant expenses to help survivors.
The taxi driver from Fontamara told AyiboPost that he has already undergone four surgeries, including one on his left ear (he has lost his hearing) and the others on his right thigh, where the wound is still gaping. These operations have cost him more than 200,000 gourdes.
Although the man has already undergone an X-ray examination in Delmas 60, his sister fears that she will not be able to undergo another one – this time an audiogram recommended by doctors – in the Canapé-Vert district, feared for cases of summary executions perpetrated by its self-defense brigade.
The woman fears that her brother’s gunshot wound could make him look like a bandit in the eyes of the members of this brigade.
« I don’t see myself going to Canapé-Vert with a [gunshot] patient to have an audiogram done, » says the victim’s sister.
In May 2024, police officers chasing bandits allegedly shot at Wildor Pierre Louis, who was talking with a friend near the Sacré-Coeur Institution in Turgeau at the corner of Avenue Christophe and Jean-Paul II.
As a police vehicle approached them, other police officers nearby reportedly ordered them not to move, Pierre Louis told AyiboPost.
Although they had the reflex to raise their hands, this did not prevent Pierre Louis from being hit by three projectiles before losing consciousness.
His friend Victor, contacted by AyiboPost, confirms his words.
The man, who suffered injuries to his lower jaw and shoulder, had to undergo surgery to reconstruct his jaw.
Portrait of Wildor Pierre Louis before and after the events of May 2024.
Due to a lack of resources, Pierre Louis, already undergoing costly medical follow-ups, confirmed to AyiboPost that he had launched a fundraising campaign to raise the resources needed for his operation.
AyiboPost contacted the Haitian National Police regarding these cases of extrajudicial executions involving police officers through its deputy spokesperson, Lionel Lazarre. The police institution did not respond before the publication of this article.
Between January and May 2025, BINUH recorded more than 4,000 victims of intentional homicides involving gangs, a 24% increase compared to data for the same period in 2024.
BINUH and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) claim to have forwarded to the General Inspectorate of the Haitian National Police, detailed information on 89 proven cases of executions and attempted extrajudicial executions resulting in 165 deaths, including 140 men, twelve women, thirteen children, and 37 injured.
67 of these executions took place in 2024, and 22 in 2025.
Calixte’s widow took steps with the Fondasyon Je Klere (FJKL) institution to try to obtain justice, as her husband’s name was circulating as being that of a murdered bandit.
Between the still-unfinished proceedings and the trauma of grieving without the body, Flore Nicolas is still struggling to recover. « I felt like I was the one being killed, » she says. « My body became paralyzed, because it meant everything to me. »
Wethzer Piercin contributed to this report.
The cover photo shows an aerial view of the Port of Port-au-Prince, accompanied by the presidential note regarding the public port of Port-au-Prince.
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