Saint-Marc Imposes Nightly Curfew as Gang Insecurity Expands in Artibonite

The municipality of Saint-Marc, a strategic port city in the Artibonite Department approximately 80 km north of Port-au-Prince, imposed a nightly security curfew effective May 5, 2026, prohibiting all vehicle and motorcycle circulation from 8:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Municipal authorities cited deteriorating security conditions driven by gang expansion from deeper in the Artibonite region toward the coastal city. Saint-Marc is a critical transit point for goods and fuel moving between Cap-Haïtien and Port-au-Prince on Route Nationale 1, and its destabilization would further fragment already precarious supply chains serving the capital and northern Haiti. The curfew follows the Gran Grif gang's March 28–April 6 offensive across the Artibonite Valley, which generated over 13,000 additional displaced persons, the March 30 Jean-Denis massacre (16–70 killed), and a subsequent advance by Gran Grif and Kokorat San Ras gangs to within 19 km of Gonaïves. The curfew was preceded by resident protests and road barricades on May 1–3 in response to police inaction. The broader pattern of gang expansion beyond Port-au-Prince into agricultural and transit zones represents a structural escalation that the GSF advance contingent of approximately 545 troops — entirely focused on Port-au-Prince operations — is not yet large enough to address simultaneously.