The kidnappers roam the streets of the towns where the population of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area has crowded together.
Kidnappers are prowling the streets of the neighborhoods where the population of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area has crowded together. “The situation is extremely complicated,” the executive director of RNDDH, Pierre Espérance, told Le Nouvelliste on Tuesday, August 4, 2026. Bourdon, Delmas 31, 33, 75, 83, among others, are the hunting grounds of the kidnappers.
“There are a lot of police officers among these kidnappers. The highest authorities in the country know it,” continued the human rights activist, who mentioned the dismantling, a few months ago, of a gang that included police officers assigned, among other things, to traffic duty, the BOID, UDMO, and CIMO.The human rights activist confirmed the return of a known practice: using gang-controlled areas as places for kidnapping. The situation is extremely complicated, and there’s still no willingness at the top levels of the police to clean up the institution, to remove these officers who are in cahoots with gangs, Espérance lamented.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a generally well-informed source expressed frustration about the situation. There’s a police base in Delmas involved in kidnappings and other criminal activities, the source said. “I don’t know if there will be a solution to the problem posed by the kidnappers,” the source bluntly admitted. According to the quarterly report on the human rights situation in Haiti by BINUH, between January and March 2026, at least 57 people were kidnapped for ransom by criminal elements.According to this report, these figures only represent a portion of the total number of people kidnapped. In many cases, the victims’ relatives do not report the kidnappings to the police or service providers and choose to negotiate directly with the kidnappers, believing that this approach leads to quicker releases and helps avoid possible retaliation.
Unlike the previous period, when most kidnappings occurred in the Artibonite department, the majority of cases in the first quarter of 2026 were recorded in the West department (88%), while 12% took place in the Artibonite department.According to data from the Human Rights Service (SDH), in the West department, the gangs from Grand-Ravine and Village de Dieu were responsible for most of the kidnappings (36 victims), mainly targeting the Delmas commune, particularly between the Delmas 31 and Delmas 75 neighborhoods. These gangs also carried out kidnappings in Godet (Kenscoff), Vivy Mitchell, and Montagne Noire (Pétion-Ville), as well as in Bourdon and downtown Port-au-Prince.
Other cases involved the 400 Mawozo and Ti-Bwa gangs, respectively in the Dargout (Croix-des-Bouquets) and Jasmin (Gressier) neighborhoods.According to some local sources, some of these kidnappings were allegedly carried out or facilitated by police officers, according to this UN report. In this regard, in February 2026, a criminal network made up of 18 people, including five police officers who were allegedly involved in kidnappings in the communes of Delmas, Pétion-Ville, and Port-au-Prince, was dismantled by the Central Directorate of Judicial Police (DCPJ), the UN report recalled. Administrative and judicial investigations into this case are being conducted by the DCPJ and the General Inspectorate of the Haitian National Police (IGPNH).
While several victims were kidnapped from inside their homes, the majority were snatched off the street, either leaving work, going home, or stepping out, suggesting they had been specifically targeted and watched, detailed this report on the kidnappings, the perpetrators, and their modus operandi.If the collusion between some members of the police and criminal organizations is a known problem, calls to purge the PNH have never been addressed in relation to the more or less documented scale of the issue by Haiti’s partners and PNH donors.
In June 2026, in an interview with Le Nouvelliste, the then-Charge d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy, Henry T. Wooster, said that “the PNH must be an honest force.” “The fundamental thing that needs to come together here is that the PNH must be an honest force,” he stated, while acknowledging the extraordinary efforts of honest police officers. “At the same time, there’s still a lot of cleaning up to do within the force,” Henry T. Wooster had noted, however.On his side, the director general of the PNH, Vladimir Paraison, who had meanwhile disappeared from the radar, had affirmed that the institution would not hesitate to crack down on crooked cops working with gangs. In this context, sharp-eyed observers and informed individuals are worried about the implications of certain assignments and, most likely, the reintegration or comeback of some bad apples. This all raises concerns, especially since the Gang Suppression Force (FRG) had only 1,083 members out of the 5,500 announced as of July 8. The FRG’s operational autonomy could limit the negative impact on operations caused by collusion between corrupt police officers and gangs.But we shouldn’t fool ourselves. If we don’t take the bull by the horns to clean up the police, whose ties of certain members with gangs and political circles are known, there is a risk of kidnapping becoming commonplace. Yet, kidnapping is not just a minor incident. It’s a heinous crime that often leads to other forms of violence against the victims, according to another source. Besides sexual violence, it causes the victim and their family to be financially ruined, forced into debt, according to our source. For over 20 years, the population has paid a toll of blood and suffering, but the ineptitude of public authorities and the collusion between wolves and shepherds tends to make this heinous crime seem normal.
