Six Catholic priests kidnapped in Haiti – El Nacional

PORT-AU-PRINCE.—Six Catholic religious were abducted in the center of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, a Catholic Church source confirmed Saturday, amid a security collapse in the poor Caribbean nation.

The religious, members of the Congregation of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, were abducted on Friday along with a professor who accompanied them, according to a Catholic Church source consulted by EFE.

The incidents occurred around Harry Truman Avenue, commonly known as the Bicentenary, an area controlled since 2018 by heavily armed gangs who have been enforcing law around the clock in Haiti, which is undergoing a crisis at all levels. , a serious situation. because of insecurity.

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Six nuns and two other men were abducted in Port-au-Prince last January and released several days later.

Since 2018, Haiti has faced an increase in kidnapping cases in the context of increasing insecurity in the country, marked by armed attacks, robberies, rapes, and armed conflicts between gangs, which have killed more than 300,000 people in the country. Have displaced, not counting the hundreds of people who have fled this country.

According to the data of United NationsIn 2023, 4,789 people were murdered, 1,698 injured and 2,490 kidnapped in Haiti, the country’s murder rate was 40.9 per 100,000, double the previous year and one of the highest in the world. .

In response to a request expressed by the country’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry in October 2022 to eliminate armed gangs, the United Nations Security Council authorized the dispatch of an assistance mission to the Haitian National Police in 2023, which is currently 80% Let’s control. capital.

The international force will be led by the Kenyan government, although the deployment of the security mission faces delays as the plan has been blocked by Kenyan courts.