These attacks disrupted life in the community and the country, and heightened fears regarding the widespread state of insecurity, according to a report by the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) cited by the newspaper Gazette Haiti.

The aftermath of the criminal gangs’ actions during those summer months includes 23 people injured, 71 kidnapped, and five missing—acts that exacerbated a cycle of violence that began in previous years, the sources added.

Behind these figures, the RNDDH notes, lie decimated families, torched homes and vehicles, and rural communities forced to abandon their lands and houses to escape armed groups and join the ranks of the displaced.

The organization specifies that the first massacre occurred on the night of July 7–8 and the second on August 23–24; both involved scenes of extreme violence against families in their homes, leaving the victims with no way to escape.

The suffering caused by the two Kenscoff massacres was compounded by the fact that the 164 fatalities included seven children, 21 elderly people aged 65 to 90, and 36 women; in some instances, houses were set on fire while the occupants were still inside.

Among the families killed was that of the married couple Philomène Alexis, 70, and Samson Louis, 80, who died in their home alongside six of their children.

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