Haiti: Jean-Rabel Massacre: Political or Land Crime, Thirty-Eight Years Later the Wounds Remain Open

July 23, 2025, marks the 38th anniversary of the Jean-Rabel massacre, one of the bloodiest and most unpunished episodes in Haiti's contemporary history. On that day in 1987, at least 139 peasants were killed in this commune in the Northwest, according to official figures. However, local organizations claim the number of victims exceeded a thousand, most of whom were members of the Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen movement, which advocated for equitable agrarian reform and access to land for small farmers. The attack was carried out by "paramilitary groups led by former macoutes and acting under the presumed orders of local land oligarchs, Rémy Lucas and Nickol Poitevien. The latter had claimed responsibility for the massacre, proudly declaring on Télévision Nationale d’Haïti (TNH) broadcasts: «In the Americans' camp… We killed 1042 Communists». Rémy Lucas, an influential businessman, was repeatedly cited as a primary suspect. Arrest warrants had been issued but never executed, and no trial has taken place. The case remains buried in impunity to this day. Survivors Still Marked by Fear For the survivors and relatives of the victims, the wound is still fresh. In Jean-Rabel, a commemorative ceremony is organized each year, with a silent march, a wreath-laying, and moving testimonies, to mark the date. The victims have buried their dead, but the truth has never been unearthed; they are still waiting for Haitian justice to finally awaken. At the time, many families fled the commune after the tragedy, fearing further reprisals. Others were silenced under pressure from local notables. Thirty-eight years later, the fear is still present. The Jean-Rabel massacre was a political, land-related, and social crime. It aimed to terrorize peasants and crush any attempt at organization. An Archetype of Impunity in Haitian Judicial History Several attempts to revive judicial proceedings have failed. In 2007, the arrest warrant against Rémy Lucas was briefly reactivated, but without follow-up. None of the accused have been tried, and some still wield significant political or economic influence. For human rights organizations, this case symbolizes the state's complete failure in the face of a ruthless bourgeoisie. Jean-Rabel is the symbol of a country where the rich command and the poor are eliminated when they demand their rights. As long as justice is not served, the massacre symbolically continues every day, and the hatchet of war will not be buried. Thirty-Eight Years Later, the Call for Memory and Justice is Renewed As every year, the Tèt Kole peasant movement, supported by other organizations in the sector, has reiterated its call for justice and collective memory. But the Haitian state has remained deaf for over a quarter of a century. Thirty-eight years later, the state's silence weighs heavily and still echoes in the blood-stained ruins, re-victimizing survivors and miraculous escapees. Relatives of the victims fear that the Jean-Rabel massacre will forever be erased from the country's judicial and political priorities. Yet, for them, the memory remains alive and the demands unchanged: truth, justice, reparation. Since 1987, the denial of justice has given free rein to several massacres against the weakest in society. Massacres at Sainte Bernadette Park in Martissan in 2005, in Gran Ravin in 2017, in Cité Soleil, in La Saline in 2018. And since then, we have stopped counting them, because we now live in an era of gratuitous crime. From Jean-Rabel to Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite, passing through Solino, Kenscoff, or Mirebalais, the judicial system has not yet found the means to set an example and send a strong signal so that justice can uplift the Haitian nation. Jean Mapou