Massacre: 184 killed on a Vodou priest's witchcraft accusation

Cited record

Sources

Hebblethwaite, B. (2021, November 10). 'Wilson Joseph, Bawon Samdi, and the meaning of Vodou in Haitian politics'. Foreign Policy. Retrieved from https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/10/haiti-kidnapping-vodou-christianity-religion-politics/ Accessed: 9 July 2024. [archived copy]

'In a video statement released on Oct. 21, Wilson Joseph, the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang—dressed up as Bawon Samdi, Vodou's fearsome spirit of death—threatened to kill members of the Haitian government as well as 17 foreign hostages, including five children, in Haiti on a Christian mission trip. They remain his captives. He invoked a spell in the name of Bawon and explained that he had wept over his five 'soldiers' who were killed and whose open coffins he stood behind. Now the politicians will 'cry blood', he said, and vowed that he'd shoot 'those Americans' (referring to the missionaries, one of whom is Canadian) if his demands, including a $17 million ransom, were unmet. His participation in a Vodou ritual to bring justice to Moïse while threatening the 'stinking bourgeoisie' and the 'Siriyanolibanè' (Syrian and Lebanese descendants) puts on raw display Haitian essentialism and racism in that the ritual ties so-called authentic power, the power Chérizier envisions for himself, to the traditions of Haiti's Black majority.'

CBS News/AFP (2024) '184 killed in Haiti, U.N. says, as gang leader allegedly orders massacre of elderly on voodoo priest's advice', CBS News, 9 December. Available at: cbsnews.com (Accessed: 14 July 2026).

In December 2024, a Vodou priest's witchcraft accusation triggered one of the worst massacres in recent Haitian history. Per the UN Human Rights Chief and Haiti's leading rights group: 'Just this past weekend, at least 184 people were killed in violence orchestrated by the leader of a powerful gang in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, in the Cite Soleil area,' Volker Turk told reporters... RNDDH said Felix had sought advice from a voodoo priest who told him elderly people in the area had harmed his child, who died on Saturday, leading to members of his gang killing at least 100 people Friday and Saturday with machetes and knives.'

Shamim, S. (2024) 'Haiti's 'vodou' murders: Why did a gang kill nearly 200 people?', Al Jazeera, 11 December. Available at: aljazeera.com (Accessed: 14 July 2026).

Al Jazeera independently corroborated the massacre and its ritual trigger: 'Felix had reportedly sought advice from a 'Vodou' priest who accused elderly people in the area of using witchcraft to harm the child. The gang's soldiers were responsible for identifying victims in their homes to take them to the chief's stronghold to be executed.' The gang leader, Jean Monel Felix, also goes by the moniker 'King Micanor'.

BINUH & OHCHR (2024) 'Haiti Flash Report: killings by the Wharf Jérémie gang, Port-au-Prince, 6–7 December 2024', United Nations, 23 December. Available at: binuh.unmissions.org (Accessed: 14 July 2026).

The United Nations' own investigation into the December 2024 massacre is more damning than the wire coverage: it establishes that the gang leader had been serially executing Vodou priestesses for over fifteen years. 'BINUH and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) established that the majority of the victims were elderly individuals accused of practicing Vodou and allegedly causing the illness of the gang leader's child.... In May 2008, he would have executed at least seven Vodou priestesses during a ceremony, justifying these murders as his desire to 'strengthen his mystical powers'. In 2012, 12 Vodou priestesses were also reportedly executed following accusations of witchcraft.... As a devout Vodou practitioner, the leader of the Wharf Jérémie gang personally knew those who regularly participated in ceremonies.' In his own audio, the gang leader declared: 'The victims are sorcerers (loup-garous)... In all Viv Ansanm bases, we will exterminate the sorcerers and cleanse the areas.'

La Presse (2024) 'Haïti : Massacrés pour une question de vaudou', La Presse, 12 December, quoting Widlore Mérancourt (AyiboPost) and the RNDDH. Available at: lapresse.ca (Accessed: 14 July 2026).

Haitian journalists explain the paradox at the heart of these killings — gang leaders both patronize Vodou and slaughter its practitioners. The editor-in-chief of AyiboPost, Widlore Mérancourt: 'Les chefs de gang s'affichent comme vaudouisants, ils sont prêts à faire appel aux prêtres et aux prêtresses quand ils en ont besoin. Mais ces mêmes individus sont aussi prêts à attaquer la communauté en toute impunité.' Haiti's leading rights group, the RNDDH, reported that 'des corps mutilés ont été brûlés dans les rues, notamment des jeunes qui ont été tués en tentant de sauver des résidants.' [English: Gang leaders present themselves as Vodou practitioners; they are ready to call on the priests and priestesses when they need them. But these same individuals are also ready to attack the community with total impunity... Mutilated bodies were burned in the streets, including young people who were killed while trying to save residents.]

intergovernmental investigation · investigation report United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Flash Report: Massacre of at least 207 people in the Wharf Jérémie area of Cité Soleil (Dec. 23, 2024).

The official UN investigation records at least 207 killings ordered by gang leader Monel Felix, also known as Micanor, after he blamed elderly people and Vodou practitioners for causing his child's illness through witchcraft. It identifies victims, methods, concealment and attacks on people trying to flee.