A Dominican diplomat abducted last week by a gang that ransacked areas of the Haitian capital has been released, the Dominican Republic’s foreign minister has said amid rising gang violence in Haiti.
Carlos Guillaume, a farmer at his country’s embassy in Port-au-Prince, was abducted on Friday as he traveled from the Haitian capital to the Dominican border town of Jimani. The incident prompted the Dominican Republic Army to announce that it had increased border security measures.
The kidnapping was allegedly carried out by the 400 Mawozo gang, which last October abducted 17 US missionaries and their relatives, including five children. He was reportedly demanding half a million dollars to free the Dominican diplomat.
“We thank all those who took an active part in his release,” Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez said on Twitter. He did not give any details about how it was secured.
Mr. Guillaume was the first Dominican diplomat – though not the first citizen – several drivers were abducted last year – to be kidnapped by a gang in Haiti.
Gang violence in Port-au-Prince now appears to have escalated into open warfare – nearly 40 civilians have been killed in clashes between heavily armed thugs in the Haitian capital since late April.
The Haitian police, often faced with dramatic gang overreach, are unable to deal with the situation: they have lost control of neighborhoods and strategically important streets. The situation worsened after the assassination of President Jouvenel Moyes by a group of mercenaries in July.
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