Thousands survived a brutal gang attack in Haiti that killed 70. Now they face an uncertain future

PONT-SONDÉ, Haiti (AP) — Under the cover of night, dozens of gang members crept toward the small town of Pont-Sondé in central Haiti armed with knives and assault rifles as families slept.

The gang had traveled from nearby Savien in vehicles they ditched halfway through the trip, climbing into canoes for the last stretch for a quiet approach.

Gunfire and screams woke the town. Those not shot dead were stabbed. Fires consumed homes.

“They tried to murder everyone,” said Jina Joseph, who survived.

The Gran Grif gang killed babies and young mothers, older people and entire families, angry that a self-defense group had tried to limit gang activity in Pont-Sondé and prevent it from making money off a makeshift toll it had recently established on a nearby road.

The gang escaped by foot through nearby rice fields after Thursday's attack, leaving more than 70 bodies strewn through the town.

It was the biggest massacre that Haiti’s once peaceful central region had seen in recent history. Thousands now face an uncertain future, stripped of their jobs, homes and families.

Jameson Fermilus, who had crouched in a corridor next to his house as smoke and gunfire filled the air, later joined more than 6,000 other survivors who walked for hours, seeking safety.

“We don’t know what we are going to do,” said another who joined them, 60-year-old Sonise Morino. “We have nowhere to go.”

Thousands walked west to the coastal city of Saint-Marc. Days after the massacre, a crowd of men, women and children gathered around a Good Samaritan standing atop his car distributing food and drink.

The newly homeless crowded into a church, a school and a public plaza shaded by trees. Those lucky enough to receive food sat on a dusty curb and ate. At night, they curled up on concrete floors and tried to sleep.

“These deaths are unimaginable,” Mayor Myriam Fièvre said as she met with survivors.

A majority of the 6,270 people left homeless have found temporary shelter with relatives who live nearby, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration.

But more than 750 others have nowhere to go, joining the over 700,000 people already left homeless in recent years by gang violence across Haiti.

Inside the school serving as a temporary shelter, one mother leaned against a chalkboard, slowly patting the back of her sleeping baby as she stared into the distance.

Massacres of the Pont-Sondé magnitude were once unheard of in Haiti’s central region despite a recent increase in gang violence. Such massacres had been reported only in the capital of Port-au-Prince, 80% of which is under gang control.

But things changed when former legislator Prophane Victor began arming young men nearly a decade ago to secure his election and control the area. That led to the creation of the Gran Grif gang, which controls Savien, Pont-Sondé and other places in the Artibonite region, according to the U.N.

Victor and the Gran Grif leader, Luckson Elan, were sanctioned by the U.S. last month. Elan also was sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council, which noted that Gran Grif “is the largest and most powerful” gang in Artibonite, committing nine mass kidnappings from October 2023 to January 2024, including that of 157 people.

During that time, Elan killed a woman for refusing to have sex with him, the U.N. said.

The gang, whose name means “Big Claw,” also has some of the highest levels of child recruitment in Haiti, according to the U.N.

Gran Grif is one of at least 20 criminal groups that operate in Artibonite, where much of Haiti’s rice and other crops are produced. More than 22,000 people have been forced to flee in recent years as gunmen target farmers and steal crops and livestock, according to the U.N., which has called authorities' response “inadequate and inconsistent.”

In an interview Monday, Romain Le Cour, senior expert on Haiti for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said he worried about the effects last week's massacre might have on other gangs despite a new U.N.-backed mission operating in Haiti.

“It’s a message sent: That they’re more powerful than the others and that they’re ready to use brutal force against the people to make sure that their territorial power and economic control remain untouched,” he said.

Le Cour noted that Haitian National Police and the mission led by Kenyan police are struggling as they operate in Port-au-Prince alone.

“It’s going to be even harder to open multiple battlefronts,” he said. “It’s a massive challenge for the government right now.”

Since the massacre, Haiti’s government has deployed armored vehicles, elite police officers and medical supplies to Pont-Sondé and Saint-Marc and Prime Minister Garry Conille visited the lone hospital, overwhelmed with injured patients.

On Monday morning, police were still trying to access areas of Pont-Sondé while members of the self-defense group who remained in the town declined to talk. The normally bustling main street remained largely empty. Gunfire rang out in the distance.

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

People displaced by armed attacks receive food from a nongovernmental organization in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

People displaced by armed gang attacks rest at the Antoinette Dessalines National School, a makeshift shelter, in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

People displaced by armed gang attacks rest at the Antoinette Dessalines National School, a makeshift shelter, in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Tcharlit Charles, wounded by a bullet during armed gang attacks, sits on a bed at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A person displaced by armed gang attacks rests at the Antoinette Dessalines National School, a makeshift shelter, in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Exiles Junior, wounded by a bullet during armed gang attacks, sits up on a bed at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Doctors treat a man who was shot and wounded during armed gang attacks, at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Thousands survived a brutal gang attack in Haiti that killed 70. Now they face an uncertain future

Thousands survived a brutal gang attack in Haiti that killed 70. Now they face an uncertain future

People displaced by armed attacks receive food from a nongovernmental organization in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson named members of a new school board on Monday, days after all seven members resigned amid an escalating fight over control of the public schools in the nation’s third-largest city.

During a news conference at a South Side church, Johnson introduced six new school board members and said he'd name a seventh at a later date. He said that although the new members are technically nominees who are still being vetted, it's a formality and they could remain after the board triples in size in January and goes to a hybrid model that will include 11 mayoral appointees and 10 elected members.

“I’m confident that these new candidates will work to lead CPS into the world class school system that our children deserve,” Johnson said, referring to the name of the district, Chicago Public Schools.

Johnson has been trying to oust the district's CEO, Pedro Martinez, who was named to the job in 2021 by Johnson's predecessor, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Johnson, a former Chicago Teachers Union organizer, has clashed with Martinez, including over how best to close gaps in the district's nearly $10 billion budget. Martinez has refused to resign, citing the need for stability in the district.

Rather than step into the fray, all seven members announced their resignations on Friday — a stunning move during the tenure of a mayor who has touted his experience with schools and education equity in the largely low income district. The outgoing members, whose resignations will take effect at the end of the month, were handpicked by Johnson in 2023, months after he took office. They haven't commented about their resignations.

Chicago will hold its first school board elections next month, installing a 21-member hybrid board until 2027, when a fully elected board will take office.

Johnson's new picks do not require City Council approval, but a majority of aldermen signed a letter over the weekend criticizing the process and calling for a council hearing on the matter. Johnson's chief of staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, told reporters that the school district was vetting Johnson's picks for possible conflicts of interest.

The shakeup comes as contract talks between the city and the powerful teachers union have stalled. The district has offered 4% raises this year, and between 4% and 5% raises in each of the next three years, while the union has sought 9% annual raises.

After the Democratic-led Legislature rejected Johnson's requests for more state funding earlier this year, he pitched taking out a $300 million short-term, high-interest loan to cover costs. Martinez refused, calling it fiscally irresponsible. The district has been considering furloughs and other budget cuts for the current year, though details have not been finalized.

The school board passes the roughly 325,000-student district's budget, confirms its CEO, and approves its policies and contracts.

The new seven-person board will remain in place until a 21-person, partially elected board takes over in January.

Johnson announced the appointments at a church led by Bishop Larry Trotter, an influential Black Chicago pastor who has praised the mayor and his efforts in education. As he addressed the media, protesters waved signs that said “Fire Brandon” and chanted “Not Legit!” in reference to the appointments before they were led out by security. Some continued chanting during the news conference.

FILE - Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson responds to a question during an interview, Aug. 15, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)