‘They took Josué from me,’ mourns father of 11-year-old caught in crossfire in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE — All 11-year-old Josué Saint-Vilus talked about was becoming a professional soccer goalkeeper. Passionate about the game, he followed the moves of Belgian star goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and spent his days training hard, imagining a future on the field.

The dream came to an abrupt halt, however, when escalating gang violence in Haiti’s Cul-de-Sac Plain ended the boy’s life. In the middle of the Sarthe neighborhood, just north of Port-au-Prince, where clashes between rival gangs and police have intensified in recent weeks, his father tried to lead the boy out of a hail of gunfire. But several bullets struck the child.

“They took Josué’s life from me. They took my life as well,” his father, Phélisnord Saint-Vilus, said Wednesday on Radio Mega. “I endured misery and many humiliations.”

The young Saint-Vilus, an eighth-grade student and member of the FONDAPS soccer club, was the fourth among seven children. His family had spent days trapped inside their home as armed groups battled for territorial control in the plain, a sprawling area that includes parts of Cité Soleil, Croix-des-Bouquets and Tabarre communes.

Since early April, neighborhoods including Duvivier, Marin, Croix-des-Missions, Fourdjy and Sarthe have become battlegrounds amid renewed rivalries among gangs affiliated with the Viv Ansanm coalition. Armed groups, including Chen Mechan, Pyè 6, Taliban and 400 Mawozo have been involved in the fighting.

The clashes mark a breakdown in fragile alliances among gangs that had previously coordinated attacks against Haitian security forces and the now-defunct  Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, recently replaced by a United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF).

Civilians bear brunt of gang battles 

At least 78 people were killed and dozens injured last week in the latest wave of clashes, according to the United Nations. The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 10,000 residents fled their homes during that week alone.

The figure is in addition to the estimated 390 people killed between March 6 and May 16 in violence affecting Cité Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets, the UN reports. Armed groups also burned at least 87 homes and public buildings during the attacks.

Saint-Vilus, 55, said his family initially stayed inside their home, hiding under beds while gunfire erupted outside.

“I didn’t want to go outside with the children so they wouldn’t become victims,” said the father of seven, who has lived in Sarthe since 1984.

But after homes in the neighborhood were set ablaze, the family fled to a church shelter in the nearby Bethesda neighborhood along with other scared residents.

As fighting intensified and police operations expanded, Saint-Vilus decided to move his children to relatives in Delmas for safety. He believed the presence of a police armored vehicle near their home would allow them to leave safely.

“To protect him [Josué Saint-Vilus], I placed my hands on his shoulders and spread my legs so that if shots were fired from behind, I would be the one hit instead of him,” Saint-Vilus said.

Moments later, he heard a gunshot and his son calling for him, crying, ‘Papa, papa.’

“Josué was hit in two fingers on his right hand, and another bullet entered through his navel,” he said. “In the La Couronne area of Sarthe, Josué took his last breath.”

Patience runs thin with government response

The child’s death has shocked many Haitians in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, already exhausted by years of escalating violence and state collapse.

Business leader Delphine Gardère, CEO of Rhum Barbancourt, was among those who criticized authorities after the killing.

“How many more Josués will we have to mourn before those in power finally take responsibility?” Gardère wrote on X. 

“A state that no longer protects its children, its schools, its sports fields and its neighborhoods is failing in its most basic duty,” she added.

The violence in Cul-de-Sac Plain has also disrupted major economic activity in the area, home to Haiti’s main international airport and several large businesses, including the Barbancourt distillery.

Sandra Pellegrini, a senior analyst at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), said the latest clashes stand out for their intensity and duration.

“Civilians are the primary victims of gang rivalries and the escalation of violence, often caught in the crossfire or deliberately targeted,” Pellegrini said in an email. “Many are also unable to return home because gangs increasingly use scorched-earth tactics to expand territorial control.”

As violence spreads across Port-au-Prince and the Artibonite region, Haitian authorities have promised stronger action against gangs.

On May 20, government officials met with leaders of the Haitian National Police, the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd’H) and the GSF, pledging “absolute zero tolerance” toward criminal armed groups and announcing new operations to retake gang-controlled territory.

Police also launched operations this week against the ‘Kokorat San Ras’ and ‘Gran Grif’ gangs in Haiti’s Lower Artibonite region.

Despite the announcements, insecurity remains widespread. Large portions of Port-au-Prince remain under gang control, armed groups frequently block roads and more than 1.4 million Haitians are now internally displaced, according to international organizations.

For families like the Saint-Vilus family, the promises come too late.

Josué’s dream of becoming a goalkeeper ended on a street in Sarthe, another child lost in a conflict that continues consuming the lives of ordinary Haitians caught between gangs, police operations and a collapsing state.

The post ‘They took Josué from me,’ mourns father of 11-year-old caught in crossfire in Haiti appeared first on The Haitian Times.