Vigilantes in Haiti strike back at gangsters with brutal street justice

A wave of brutal vigilante justice is roiling Haiti, in response to the country's violent gangs. Gang-related killings and kidnappings have dropped as a result, but human rights activists worry about the gruesome violence meted out against suspected gangsters and fear innocent people will be killed. A wave of brutal vigilante justice is roiling Haiti, in response to the country's violent gangs.

Vigilantes have killed at least 164 people since the movement dubbed “bwa kale” began in April, according to the United Nations. The name means “peeled wood” in Haitian Creole and insinuates male dominance and power in street slang. People who wanted to enter had to show their IDs, open their bags, lift their shirts to reveal any gang tattoos, and, if they didn’t live there, explain where they were going. At night, those seeking to enter Turgeau also had to provide a password, which the community changes every week.

Turgeau is under siege by a gang known as “5 Seconds,” because that’s supposedly how long it takes them to kill someone. The bwa kale movement gained momentum in Turgeau after residents said the gang launched a pre-dawn attack in late April, killing nearly a dozen people. María Isabel Salvador, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, told The Associated Press that, “Haiti truly can’t take it anymore.”Haiti’s National Police has only some 9,000 active officers for a country of more than 11 million people. Police have arrested more than 2,700 suspected criminals and seized dozens of weapons since launching an operation dubbed “Tornado” in January to target gangs, but they are often overwhelmed.

The movement dubbed “bwa kale” began in April across Haiti but is concentrated in Port-au-Prince, the capital of about 1 million. Vigilantes close off neighborhoods and kill and torture suspected gangsters. So far, they have killed at least 164 people.

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