Abduction in Haiti of a member of a Cuban medical assistance mission

DAY

A driver of a Cuban medical assistance mission in Haiti was recently kidnapped in Port-au-Prince, the Cuban Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday.  

Alejandro Aguilera Milanes, driver of this mission made up of 250 doctors, nurses and support staff, was kidnapped on January 23 in Port-au-Prince, the ministry said in a statement. 

“Efforts have been undertaken with the Haitian authorities to deal with this unfortunate event with the highest priority in order to achieve the rapid and safe release of the Cuban collaborator”, adds the press release, without further details.

This is not the first kidnapping of a member of this Cuban mission in Haiti. Last year, a doctor was kidnapped for 10 days before being released. 

For more than two years, gangs have been multiplying villainous kidnappings in Port-au-Prince, kidnapping people of any socio-economic origin and any nationality. 

Haiti has been mired in a political crisis for several years and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 has profoundly aggravated the situation. Gangs also enjoy widespread impunity and violence has increased in recent years.

In 2022, the UN recorded 1,359 kidnappings and more than 2,000 murders in the country, a third of more than the previous year. 

Doctors Without Borders announced on Friday that it was suspending its activities in a hospital in the Haitian capital after armed men burst in and pulled out a patient to kill him a few meters away.