The Saint-Louis de Gonzague school has been turned into a shelter. Over 300 children who fled the gang violence in the Cité Soleil district live here. There, the criminal groups G9 and G-pèp are now fighting for control, with constant shootings as a result.
Dieula Dubrevil left home one morning at 4 a.m. when the bullets started flying.
– On Sunday, July 17, a war broke out in Cité Soleil. There was heavy shooting, dead everywhere, gunshot wounds and burnt down houses. Projectiles fell on my home and I saw people die. I almost lost a child and my husband was tortured.
Now she lives with her four children at the shelter. She does not know how things have gone for her husband and others who stayed behind.
Worsening situation after the presidential assassination
Haiti’s long history of violence and political instability was further exacerbated when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated last July. Since January, according to the UN, over 1,000 people have been killed in the country, of which 200 in just ten days in July. Even more have been injured or disappeared. According to the UN, around half of the victims have no connections to the gangs.
Moïse’s PHTK party has been singled out as a financier of the G9 gang, while rivals G-pèp are said to have links to the political opposition. In the past month, the power struggle between them has escalated. They are far better armed than the Haitian police and today de facto control several areas of the capital. Here, kidnappings, extortion and shootings have become commonplace, while access to food, water and fuel has been limited.
At Saint-Louis de Gonzague, the children get the chance to forget the reality outside for short moments, when they jump rope or play dominoes. Sister Paesie, who is in charge of the shelter, says that many of them have experienced terrible things.
– A little girl saw her father being burned alive in front of her.
Many of the around 3,000 people who have been forced to flee have nothing to return to. According to Sister Paesie, many of the children’s homes have been burned down by gang members. Only a few of them have their parents with them, as space is limited and they have prioritized minors.