Haitian Kidnappers Release U.S. Nurse and Her Daughter

An American nurse and her young daughter were released by their abductors in Haiti on Wednesday after spending nearly two weeks in captivity, victims of rising kidnappings and killings in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. 

El Roi Haiti, which runs a school for some 400 children near the capital Port-au-Prince, said Alix Dorsainvil, the wife of the organization’s director, and their daughter, were kidnapped on July 27. 

“There is still much to process and to heal from in this situation,” El Roi Haiti said in a statement. The organization said their release brought “gratitude and extreme joy.” No other details were disclosed, including whether a ransom had been paid.

El Roi Haiti asked that no attempts be made to contact Dorsainvil or her family. 

Haiti has been caught in a spiral of social turmoil and criminal gang violence since the assassination two years ago of the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse. Moïse was killed, and his wife wounded, when more than 20 former Colombian soldiers stormed the presidential compound in July 2021.

The investigation into the assassination has stalled in Haiti, where more than 40 people were initially detained. U.S. prosecutors have made progress in Miami, where one person has pleaded guilty to the killing and 10 others face charges in federal court. 

Kidnappings and killings rose sharply after the assassination as powerful gangs, many with links to corrupt politicians and businessmen, fought for control of Port-au-Prince.  

In a report this week, Unicef recorded almost 300 cases of kidnappings of women and children so far this year, about the same number as in all of 2022 and three times as many as in 2021.

“The growing trend in kidnappings and abductions is extremely worrisome,” said Garry Conille, Unicef’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The deterioration of Haiti’s security and economy has put some 5.2 million people, including three million children, about half the country’s population at risk, Unicef said. 

Dorsainvil, who is originally from New Hampshire, had been working as a school nurse at El Roi Haiti since 2020 and had married the organization’s director in 2021, the school said. She first started coming to Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, which is estimated to have killed more than 200,000 people. 

Last month, on the same day that Dorsainvil was kidnapped, the U.S. Embassy ordered the departure of all nonemergency personnel from the country. 

The Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, a Haitian organization that tracks kidnappings, says there have been 539 kidnappings in the country since January, including at least 51 of foreigners. 

“The situation suggests an increase in violence and other gang activities for the third quarter,” the center said.  

Last year, Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, asked the United Nations and the international community to send a security force to help the outgunned and outmanned Haitian police tame the country’s violent gangs, which some analysts say control about 80% of the capital and are extending their reach into the nation’s countryside. 

The U.S. and Canada have been unwilling to head such a mission, but last month the government of Kenya said it would be willing to do so, and would commit up to 1,000 Kenyan police officers to assist Haitian police. Kenya said it would send an exploratory mission to Haiti by mid-August. The Bahamas has agreed to contribute some 150 officers. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. would push for a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing a multinational force for Haiti. 

In October 2021, the kidnapping of 17 U.S. and Canadian missionaries, including four children and an 8-month old baby, captured the world’s attention. The missionaries were released over the next two months. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of $1 million per captive, but it wasn’t clear whether a ransom was paid.

Write to José de Córdoba at [email protected]

Corrections & Amplifications
The last name of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was given incorrectly as Blilnken in an earlier version of this article. (Corrected on Aug. 9)