Haiti kidnappings rise ahead of elections as gangs target prominent figures

Kidnappings are rising again in Haiti as the country moves towards long-delayed general elections, with gangs increasingly targeting prominent people and carrying out mass abductions. United Nations figures show that at least 81 people were reported kidnapped between April and June, a 42 per cent rise from the first quarter of the year.

Those abducted include James Boyard, police inspector general and cabinet director in Haiti’s Defence Ministry, who was kidnapped in broad daylight in June from Bourdon, an area of Port-au-Prince seen as relatively safe. He has not been released. Local media have also reported the kidnapping of well-known lawyer Caleb Jean-Baptiste and Stphanie Paultre, director general of Haiti’s National Office for Educational Partnerships. The kidnappings come as Haiti prepares for its first general elections in more than a decade. The country has not had a president since Jovenel Mose was killed at his private residence in July 2021, and violence has worsened since then.

Romain Le Cour, head of the Haiti Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said, "Elections act as accelerators. Each of these cases draws international attention and puts pressure on every political actor in Haiti. It exposes cracks, failures and the state’s inability to protect even its own." Most Haitians do not report kidnappings of relatives because they fear reprisals, higher ransom demands or disruption to talks with abductors.

In a rare public step, lawyer Dorime Boulos held a press conference in mid-September to announce a fundraiser to help secure Jean-Baptiste’s release. "We don’t have the amount they’re asking for," he said, while declining to disclose the ransom demand. Calling for dialogue, he added, "We are condemned to live here. We don’t have another society or spare country."

U.N. figures show mass kidnappings in Haiti began rising sharply around 2020, when 234 cases were reported, up 200 per cent from 78 in 2019. The abduction and killing of high school student velyne Sincre that year led to large protests. In 2021, 655 kidnappings were reported, a 180 per cent increase from the previous year. A February 2022 U.N. report said, "No social group was spared; among the victims were labourers, traders, religious leaders, professors, medical doctors, journalists, human rights defenders and foreign citizens." Reported kidnappings rose to 1,359 in 2022 and then to 2,490 in 2023, with a U.N. report noting that "gang members are increasingly resorting to wearing fake police uniforms to carry out kidnappings." In 2024, at least 2,058 people were reported kidnapped. In 2025, reported cases fell nearly 40 per cent to 1,268, but the numbers are rising again, and the real figure is believed to be much higher because many abductions go unreported.

Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aim, speaking at a meeting during the recent U.N. General Assembly, said restoring security was a top priority. He said 4,000 new police officers were being trained this year, while another 1,500 soldiers had already completed training, with a total of 15,000 new soldiers planned over the next three years. In late September, Haiti’s National Police also said that nearly a dozen officers had been trained to negotiate with kidnappers. "We are strengthening our national forces to meet our security challenges," Fils-Aim said. "Given the scale of the challenges, the support of our international partners for security remains essential."

The mandate of a U.N.-backed force against gangs was renewed on Tuesday at a U.N. Security Council meeting. The force currently has almost 1,600 personnel and that number is likely to double soon, according to Daniela Kroslak, assistant secretary-general and head of mission of the U.N. Support Office in Haiti. "Over the next three months, this will all pick up quite considerably," she told The Associated Press. "We all hope, of course, that this formula the international community has put together to face the crisis in Haiti will yield the result that the Haitian people want and need and deserve."

The worsening situation was underlined this summer when gangs moved into Kenscoff, a farming community near Port-au-Prince that had been largely peaceful. At least 164 people were killed and more than 70 others were kidnapped in one of the biggest mass abductions in recent years. Six children and seven women have since been freed, but the others remain captive, "creating a very concerning precedent", Le Cour said.

In the final days of September, gangs in the central town of Petite-Rivire held hundreds of civilians hostage for two days after police arrested two gang members. At least eight people were killed and 10 injured, said Bertide Horace, spokesperson for the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Awareness to Save the Artibonite. "People were trying to escape, and they shot them for no reason," she said. "The state needs to take more action."

Le Cour said Haiti had seen a new wave of kidnappings in the past six to eight months. He said criminal groups were using official or cloned police uniforms, vehicles and number plates, and noted allegations that some law enforcement agents were involved. "It takes intelligence to kidnap high-level targets, and that intelligence usually comes from collusion," he said, adding that a high-value hostage sends a political message, brings a bigger ransom and helps protect a gang’s territory against an offensive. He said the latest abductions were concentrated in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area: "Gangs are striking zones considered safe, at the core of Haiti’s political, economic and international presence." He also said every major kidnapping wave had followed a political rupture, including the fall of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 and the assassination of Mose in 2021. "No one is out of reach," Le Cour said. "These kidnappings send a message: the police cannot protect the population, and the state itself is vulnerable."

As Haiti prepares for elections after years of political vacuum and worsening violence, kidnappings are again climbing, with prominent officials, professionals and civilians among those being targeted, even in areas once seen as safe.