Twenty-four hours after the massacre in the locality of Jean-Denis, the first communal section of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, the commune of Marchand-Dessalines is now occupied by the Gran Grif gang from Savien and the Kokorat San Ras gang from La Croix Périsse, determined to establish their permanent bases in the city of Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Twenty-four hours after the massacre in the locality of Jean-Denis, the first communal section of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, the commune of Marchand-Dessalines is now occupied by the Gran Grif gang from Savien and the Kokorat San Ras gang from La Croix Périsse, determined to establish their permanent bases in the city of Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
The deputy of the Dessalines arrondissement, Dunelson Duval, described the situation as “tragic,” calling for urgent intervention from government and police authorities.
“After causing victims in Ponjou, a village bordering Petite-Rivière and Marchand-Dessalines, the bandits from Savien are determined to settle in Poste-Pierrot. They are advancing in that direction. They are confronting community self-defense groups. Around ten people have been injured and treated at the Claire Heureuse Hospital in Marchand, and houses have been set on fire,” explained the representative of the executive branch, who stated that he had alerted the Coordination Unit of Delegations and Vice-Delegations, the departmental police directorate, the Ministry of the Interior, and Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé.
Regarding the Kokorat San Ras gang, which was distributing banknotes in the downtown public square while attempting to reassure residents that everything would be fine under their protection, the deputy stated that “this strategy is highly political and psychosocial,” arguing that “these criminals are trying to deceive the local population by presenting themselves as good citizens,” adding that “the Kokorat San Ras gang will never defend the people against the Gran Grif gang.” He urged everyone “to remember the criminal acts of these outlaws” and not to forget that “it was these same criminals who set fire to the police station building in the commune during the night of July 16 to 17, 2025.”
The Haitian National Police is absent from Marchand-Dessalines “since the institution’s premises are still damaged.” The deputy deplored this situation, “which prevents the 15 assigned officers from carrying out their duties in the region.” He issued a “renewed appeal” to the relevant authorities.
Engaged in the fight alongside the population, the president of the Interim Executive Commission, Dunord Sileus, believes that “the people have been left to fend for themselves. Victim of a state conspiracy, the nation has been abandoned to misfortune. The government is not concerned with the lives of its citizens.”
“For years, insecurity has prevailed in Artibonite. Not a single police operation has been carried out against the bandits. Our leaders speak about elections and fuel price increases without addressing their republican responsibilities in terms of security,” stated the chief administrator of the commune of Marchand-Dessalines.
The most feared gangs in the Artibonite department “will eventually impose their rule in the city of Dessalines if legal forces continue to show laxity,” according to the deputy of the Dessalines arrondissement. “Drastic measures must be taken as quickly as possible to prevent” Haiti’s first capital from becoming “a hell like Port-au-Prince.”
