St Jean Bosco massacre, Mass violence incident at Saint-Jean Bosco church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Saint-Jean Bosco is a Catholic church in the La Saline neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, known as the site of a violent attack carried out during a Sunday mass. The building was heavily damaged during the attack and was never fully restored, leaving visible ruins that still stand today.
The attack happened on 11 September 1988, when armed men stormed the mass, set the church on fire, and killed or wounded dozens of worshippers. Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the parish priest at the time and later president of Haiti, narrowly escaped and went on to become a central figure in the country's political life.
The church was a place where people gathered to hear about justice and the lives of the poor, in the spirit of liberation theology. That role shapes the way many Haitians remember and speak about what happened there.
The site is located in La Saline, one of the poorest and most difficult neighborhoods to navigate in Port-au-Prince, so visiting with a local guide is strongly recommended. There are no official opening hours, and the visible ruins can be viewed from the outside.
In the days after the attack, some of those believed to be responsible appeared openly on Haitian television and admitted their involvement without facing any immediate legal consequences. These public admissions, broadcast to the whole country, shocked many observers both inside and outside Haiti.
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