Thirty-eight people traveling by bus to southern Haiti were kidnapped on Friday by a criminal group in the capital, the president of a drivers’ association told AFP.
“Two buses bound for Miragoâne (city located 100 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince) were full of passengers when the men from Village de Dieu captured them,” said Méhu Changeux, leader of the Association of Owners and Drivers of Haiti (APCH), referring to a favela in Porto Principe that serves as the headquarters of a criminal group.
“Each bus had 18 people, in addition to the drivers,” Changeux added, without giving more details about the possible motives for the kidnapping.
The kidnapping of more than three dozen people occurs at a time when the dominance of the armed groups in the Caribbean country is growing without the police being able to contain the wave of insecurity.
Since June of last year, the authorities have lost control of the only road access that connects the capital with an area in southern Haiti, since part of the national highway is under the control of armed groups.
Méhu Changeux pointed out that the association he directs “always asks drivers not to use the road” until “safety is restored.”
A call that is hardly heard by many inhabitants, since traveling by the only alternative route is much more expensive, said Méhu Changeux.
“There are still buses at risk,” he lamented.
Last weekend, three young Turkish girls were released after a month in captivity. They had been kidnapped by a gang that controls the entire region east of Port-au-Prince, up to the border with the Dominican Republic.
Five Turkish citizens are still missing.
In May alone, the United Nations (UN) recorded at least 200 kidnappings in Haiti, most of them in Port-au-Prince.
Source: Observadora
