Violence Continues Its Reign in La Chapelle: The Commune Empties of Nearly 9,000 Inhabitants
By Wideberlin SENEXANT · Port-au-Prince · · 2 min read · Updated 24 April 2026
Translated from French — AI-assisted and reviewed by the editorial team. The French version is authoritative. Read the original · About our translation policy
Under pressure from armed groups, La Chapelle has emptied. More than 8,800 people were forced to leave the Artibonite commune after a violent attack on June 22, 2025. This new bloody episode occurs in a context where violence in Haiti has already caused more than 2,680 deaths and displaced over 1.3 million people since January, according to the United Nations.
Terror continues to gain ground in Haiti. The commune of La Chapelle has just been added to the list of areas abandoned by their inhabitants, facing the advance of heavily armed criminal groups. According to the latest report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 8,890 people, from 2,257 families, fled their homes following the attack on Sunday, June 22, 2025.
The majority of displaced people have found refuge in other localities in Artibonite, while others have tried to reach the Ouest department. According to OCHA, these movements exacerbate an already critical situation in a country where over 1.3 million people are currently internally displaced.
Since the beginning of 2025, widespread violence has claimed the lives of over 2,680 people and injured at least 957, according to UN data. Criminal groups continue to assert their dominance, controlling vast portions of the territory and forcing entire families to flee.
The recent attacks in La Chapelle, which resulted in nearly 6 deaths and the burning of several public and private buildings, including the police station, confirm an already observed trend: armed gangs are no longer limited to the capital. They are increasingly spreading to communes and provincial regions, further weakening a country plunged into a deep humanitarian and security crisis.
Faced with this situation, the national and international security response remains insufficient so far. The multinational mission, led by Kenya since June 2024, is still struggling to contain the violence or regain control of areas abandoned by law enforcement. The national police and the army continue to face problems while gangs remain active.
While residents flee bullets, questions persist: who can stop this advance of gangs? And how many more communes will fall before an effective response is implemented?
Wideberlin Sénexant
