List of massacres in Haiti
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in Haiti, following the end of the Haitian Revolution in Saint-Domingue which declared its independence from France on 1 January 1804 and became the world's first and oldest black-led republic in the Americas, the first Caribbean state and the first Latin American country as a whole in the Western Hemisphere after the United States (numbers may be approximate):
Massacres
| Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taíno genocide | 1493 – 1550 | All across the island of Hispaniola | 60,000 to 1,000,000 | After the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 which led to the Genocide of Taíno population through diseases, starvation, forced labor, abuse and neglect over 80–90% of every Taíno people killed |
| Jaragua massacre | July 1503 | Jaragua, Hispaniola | 80+ | Killing of Indigenous people from the town of Xaragua on the island of Hispaniola |
| 1804 Haiti massacre | February 1804 – 22 April 1804 | All across the country | 3,000 to 5,000 | Killing of Haiti's white population on the orders of the Haitian general Jean-Jacques Dessalines.[1] |
| Les Cayes massacre | 6 December 1929 | Marchaterre, Les Cayes | 12-22 | United States Marine Corps troops fire upon a group of 1,500 Haitians in Les Cayes who were protesting against the United States occupation of Haiti |
| Fignolists massacre | 16-17 June 1957 | Haiti | unknown | After Kébreau's coup against Daniel Fignolé, the Haitian army massacred an unknown number of supporters of the deposed president.[2][3][4] |
| Massacre of 26 of April 1963 | 26 April 1963 | Port-au-Prince | 73 | Assassinations and arrests of dozens of alleged opponents of the Duvalier dictatorship and their families, mostly soldiers, before he declared himself "president for life" the following year.[5] |
| Massacre of the peasants of Mapou | July and August 1964 | Arrondissement of Belle-Anse, Southeast Haiti | 300-600 | In response to an incursion by 15 anti-Duvalier militants of the FARH (Forces Armées Révolutionnaires d’Haïti) on June 29, the Haitian army, the militia, the paramilitary forces, death squads and the secret police known as the Tonton Macoutes (Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale, VSN) killed several hundred residents of the towns of Thiotte, Grand-Gosier, Belle-Anse (Saltrou) and Anse-a-Pitres on the orders of the Haitian dictator François Duvalier (Papa Doc). The largest numbers of killings occurred in Mapou, a section of Belle-Anse, including at least 45 members of the Madoumbe family. Nineteen members of the family Fandal were shot, mainly in Thiotte. Government forces never successfully engaged the rebels, who abandoned their efforts in August 1964. Arbitrary executions continued to be frequent through 1965.[6][7] |
| Jérémie Vespers | August through October 1964 | Jérémie, Grand Anse, Haiti | 27 | All members of several Jeremie families were executed in retaliation for the attempted guerrilla incursion in August by 13 members of "Jeune Haiti." Children and elderly people were amongst those murdered by the army, the secret police, private militia and other elements of François Duvalier dictatorship. |
| Fort Dimanche massacre | 26 April 1986 | Fort Dimanche, Port-au-Prince | 11-15[8][3] | Soldiers opened fire on demonstrators during a mass in memory of the victims of the 1963 massacre in front of Fort Dimanche facilities in Port-au-Prince, which caused numerous victims. |
| Jean-Rabel massacre | 23 July 1987 | Jean-Rabel | 139-200[9][3] | Battle between wealthy landowners and a land-reform group |
| Haitian general election, 1987 | November 1987 | All across the country | 30-300.[10] | Attacks on voters.[10] |
| St. Jean Bosco massacre | 11 September 1988 | Port-au-Prince | 13-150.[3][11] | Politically motivated attack on a church service, which was being led by future-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was a priest at the time.[12] |
| Pétionville bombing | 5 December 1990 | Pétion-Ville, Ouest Port-au-Prince | 5-7 | [13][14][15][16] |
| Raboteau massacre | 22 April 1994 | Gonaïves | 8-15[17] | Massacre of civilian demonstrators.[18] |
| 2018 Port-au-Prince massacre | 13–18 November 2018 | La Saline, Port-au-Prince | 71 | Massacre of civilians by masked men [19] |
| Croix-des-Bouquets jailbreak | 25 February 2021 | Croix-des-Bouquets, Ouest | 26 | More than 400 prisoners escaped during the jailbreak |
| Bel Air massacre | 27 August 2020 - 15 May 2021 | Belair, Port-au-Prince | 81 | 16 wounded |
| Battle of Plaine du Cul-de-Sac | 24 April and 6 May 2022 | Plaine du Cul-de-Sac, Port-au-Prince | 200 | Clashes broke out between the 400 Mawozo gang and the Chen Mechan gang, Nearly 200 people were killed, many of whom were civilians. |
| 2022 Port-au-Prince gang battles | 8-9 July 2022 | Port-au-Prince | 89 | Outbreak of gang violence occurred in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, leaving 89 people dead and over 74 injured |
| 2022 Cabaret attack | 28-29 November 2022 | Cabaret | 20+ | 20 people were killed by armed gangs in the town of Cabaret, a suburb of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. |
| 2024 Pont-Sondé attack | 3 October 2024 | Pont-Sondé, Artibonite department | 115+ | Armed gunmen from the Gran Grif gang commit a mass shooting with automatic rifles and a series of arson attacks in the town of Pont-Sondé, killing 115+ people and seriously injuring 50 others |
| 2024 Cité Soleil massacre | 6-7 December 2024 | Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince | 207[20] | Massacre of elderly practitioners of Haitian Vodou. |
| Labodrie massacre | 11-12 September 2025 | Labodrie, Arcahaie | 50+[21] | Massacre of Labodrie village residents by Viv Ansanm militants |