For months, the heavily armed gang members in Savien, a rural community in Haiti’s rice-growing Artibonite Valley, had been ratcheting up their terror campaign. When they weren’t brandishing their weapons openly in the streets, they were kidnapping people for ransom or stoking fear with viral videos showing the slaughter of unsuspecting individuals in fields.
So when a specialized police brigade unexpectedly crossed paths with the gang last month, some residents in Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite weren’t sure what to expect. But the Haiti National Police officers not only fought off the gang’s attempts to storm the local police station, they killed at least three gang members, including the leader nicknamed “Goliath,” in an exchange of gunfire.
“The population was very happy,” said a local businessman who declined to give his name because of the fear of gangs
